Behind Closed Doors
by randomly
Summary: KakaNaru. Is our all's favourite blonde beyond saving or is there still hope? Pt. 1 of last chapter up.
1. Chapter 1

**Firstly: Warnings: This story will contain bad language, rape, violence, mental abuse, self-injuring and eventually Yaoi. If you mind any of these or simply do not wish to read it, I suggest you click the 'back' button now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto – Masashi Kishimoto does.**

**Summary: Main pairing KakaNaru – now on to the real summary.**

**At the Valley of the End, after having tried to stop Sasuke from defecting, Naruto was brutally raped, and not only by his 'best friend'...**

**This story is set years later, after Naruto returns from Training with Jiraiya following the timeline of the manga/anime.**

**Kakashi and Naruto start forming a relationship of sorts, but Naruto being what, and who he is there are many people that don't wish him well, so the troubles commence.**

**Can Kakashi save Naruto, from the world and from himself, or is our all's favourite blonde beyond saving?**

_**Yes, I do suck horribly at summaries.**_

**Read and review, please =)**

**BEHIND CLOSED DOORS**

**Chapter 1**

**(edited version)**

**-X-**

Black eyes, broken fingers,  
Blood drips and I let it run,  
down my lips into my swollen gums,  
When hope is non-existent,  
Our instincts all scream "Run",  
We never turn our backs or even bite toungs  
Although we have no obligation to stay alive,  
On broken backs we beg for mercy, we will survive,  
(Break out) I won't be left here,Behind closed doors.

Rise Against – Behind Closed Doors

**-X-**

Scared, he felt so very scared. That was the last thing the blonde could recall from before everything went blac. Then he found himself there again, down in the dark, flooded tunnels – he'd been here so many times lately that he could probably find his way even with his eyes closed.

After a couple of minutes he arrived at his destination – and enormous cage. Inside it he could barely spot the pair of familiar red eyes, all else covered in shadows. The creature that was hiding in the darkness came towards him, and in only a moment the kitsune no Kyuubi was standing right there in front of him, the only thing separating the boy from the beast were the thin metal bars of the cage.

"So, Kit, you're back." It wasn't as much question as a statement.

"Yeah," The blue-eyed 17 year old looked straight into the eyes of the nine tailed demon. "Can I stay here for tonight, I can't stand going back. I-I know what's going to happen if I do…" The blonde shivered slightly as he spoke, his eyes portraying the fear he felt all too clearly.

"Of course, Kit," The fox said affectionately as it put one of its front paws out through the bars and laid it around the trembling teen. "But, Kit," Naruto looked into the fox's eyes again; the demon's voice was more serious than he'd heard it in quite a while. "You have to get away from it; you can't let it torture you like this. If you don't find away to stop it then, soon, there will be nothing I can do for you anymore. I can heal your flesh wounds, and I can guard you in your sleep, but the strain it's putting on your mind, the mental effects all of this is having on you, those I am unable to handle if you let it go too far. It's better stopping it now than waiting for it to end…" A low grunt from Naruto made Kyuubi aware that he was slipping into dreamland, so she decided to let him sleep for now. The poor boy needed the little rest he could get, god knows that it wasn't much.

---

Naruto woke up in a sweat, his heart hammering in his chest and his breathing out of control. He struggled for several minutes trying to calm down before he sat up properly in his bed, leaning his back against the headboard with the covers pulled up around him. He was terrified to say the least, these dreams that came to haunt him were so horrible - a constant reminder of what had happened back then - even now. Even after so many years.

_~ F__lashback ~_

_A young Naruto, 13 years of age, was speeding through a forest, chasing the back of his best friend and former team mate Uchiha Sasuke. When he finally caught up both boys were both exhausted, running on overdrive. They were in a place Naruto had never been before, but he recognized it from some book he had read – this was the Valley of the End. A smile found its way to the blonde's lips at the irony of the situation. The end would come in this very place; it seemed like something taken out of a story for the final showdown to happen in the valley of the end._

_Sasuke turned and looked at him, pinning the blonde with his eyes as if he was trying to stare Naruto away. _

"_Come back, Sasuke. Please..."Narut__o said, barely above a whisper, but he knew the raven had heard him because the other boy shook his shoulders lightly. _

"_I can't, Naruto. You know better than anyone I can't – I have to kill __him__." The blonde felt tears welling up in his eyes, 'No, I won't cry, not now... I can't' he thought to himself. _

"_Then I'll make you. Heck, I'll even chop of your legs and pull you all the way back by your ears if that's what it takes, you know!" The Uchiha simply laughed at him._

"_I'm much too strong for you, Naruto, you will never beat me. Whatever happens here, if we fight it will only end in disaster..."__ The blue-eyed boy clenched his fists, knowing what Sasuke said was all too true. _

"_I don't fucking care, I WILL BRING YOU BACK, SASUKE!" A roar from the blonde, and so the fight begun. _

_It had lasted several hours, and the two had been surprisingly evenly matched for the entire time, but as time passed the two of them became more and more exhausted. Naruto had already transformed into his fox-state quite some time ago, but now it was Sasuke's turn. The seal on his neck, the one Orochimaru was to blame for, was taking him over, and in only a short time he'd transformed into his second stage. _

_It didn't take long before Naruto was completely exhausted – sweat covering his body and the taste of blood strong in his mouth. He saw Sasuke charging at him yet again, barely reaching to get out of the way, he was at his limit now, and he had only one hope left – the Rasengan. He started charging, and as soon as the Uchiha noticed he decided to use his own special technique, the Chidori. As the two boys charged at each other – quickly reducing the space between them – a sort of understanding passed between them, neither knowing why, but they both felt at ease in those last moments before they met in mid air. Naruto was first to strike, but he was exhausted (and he didn't have the will to possibly kill his best friend, though that was something he regretted), the other boy easily knocking his hand away, then the raven struck, his fist piercing the blonde's shoulder, blood quickly drenching his orange jacket. The last thing Naruto knew was Sasukes free arm closing around him and the Uchiha softly caressing him, then he slowly slipped into welcoming darkness. _

_---_

_The next thing the blonde knew he woke up to the feeling of somebody's hands brushing against the skin on his stomach. He kept his eyes closed, not yet ready to know what was happening, as the hands kept roaming his bare chest. He opened his eyes to find that he was entirely naked, lying on the ground, his bare skin bruising from the rocks beneath him. As he looked up to see who it was that was straddling him and now also playing with one of his nipples, saying he was in shock upon seeing who it was would be an understatement, because there, sitting atop him, was Kabuto._

"_So, I see you're awake, Naruto-kun?" the grey haired boy asked, his voice as calm as ever, though it was more of a statement. Naruto shivered with disgust, hoping the grey haired male chose to take it as that and not a shiver of pleasure. "It took you long enough to get too considering that I healed all your wounds quite some time ago." The sound nin said. _

"_What are you doing__...? WHERE'S SASUKE?! " Naruto was gripped by a surge of panic - Had the bastards done anything to the raven?_

"_To answer your second question first – the Uchiha is right over there in that tent," Kabuto lifted one hand to point to a tent barely 10 metres away. "And as for your second question, demon, the three of us just wanted to have some fun before we left."Kabuto smirked with an evil glint in his eyes as he said the last part. _

"_W-What do you mean...Fun? What... three of you?" Naruto was terrified, sensing that he was in a bad, bad situation. His hands trembled at the thought of the mess he could be in._

"_Oh, you'll see what kinds of fun we'll be having, __Naruto__-kun. As for what three of us, well, that would be me, as you should have guessed, Sasuke, and Orochimaru-sama. You have a long night ahead of you, Naru-chan" Kabuto said in a mocking voice._

_Then it had begun. He had been broken that night – endured things that no one should ever have to go through - and worst of all was who had done it. The first one of them to rape him was Kabuto, which, in a strange way, Naruto was happy for – he was somehow glad it wasn't Orochimaru who was his first. Kabuto had been harsh with him, very harsh. It had been hard and fast, and it had left Naruto bleeding and struggling for breath. After the first time, Orochimaru and Kabuto had forced themselves on him countless times during the night, doing things to him that he could never forget, blood and semen running down his thighs. That had not been the worst part though, not by far. _

_The most gruesome part of that night had been when they'd brought Sasuke out of his tent. They'd made him caress Naruto, kiss him – Naruto could sense that Sasuke didn't want to do it either, but still he had – and then they'd told the Uchiha to take him._

"_Take Naruto, and we'll take you in - don't, and we leave you two here to rot." Naruto thought he saw a hint of regret in the raven's eyes, lasting no more than a second at most, then Sasuke had forced himself on the blonde, pushing into him, and although it wasn't as hard and rough as the other two it had hurt so much more. Hurt because this was his best friend, and he was raping him. Because it was the boy he looked upon as his own brother violating him in the worst possible way. _

_Naruto had not cried any of the many times that Orochimaru and Kabuto had touched him, kissed him, pushed into him, he wouldn't let them see how much it hurt, but now tears were silently streaking his cheeks – he just couldn't hold them back anymore. Sasuke saw the gleaming, wet tracks down the blondes cheeks, Naruto knew, but the black haired boy simply focused his attention on Naruto's lips instead and continued his acts. _

_After the Uchiha had emptied himself inside the blond, he leant forwards to the blonde's ear. "Sorry Naruto, but I had to. You know I have to kill him, right" he'd whispered, almost so low that Naruto couldn't hear it, but he had. Then everything had gone black again. _

_When he woke up he found that he had been dressed and it felt like he'd been cleaned too. He tried to move, but his body wouldn't respond, too tired from the things that had happened to him mere hours earlier, and everything hurt. He was awake for a short minute before he slipped back into unconsciousness. _

_The next thing he could remember was that someone was holding him, carrying him, clutching him so tight it seemed they were afraid if they let go the boy would disappear. Naruto had flinched, terrified at the touch, then he opened his eyes to find that his sensei, Kakashi, was the one holding him, tears running down the tiny visible part of the jounin's cheeks. "Kakashi..." he'd whispered, then his eyes closed, and he'd happily let the darkness take him back._

_~ Flashback over ~_

Naruto was terrified, as he always was after one of his flashbacks. Tears were running down his cheeks fast, his whole body trembling. _'Why me?'_ thought the young Jinchuuriki. _'Isn't it enough that all the people of my village whom I try to make recognize me all call me a monster and a demon? Isn't it enough that they try to hurt me in every way? Why this too?' _

Naruto was shaking when he got out of bed and walked into his bathroom. It was 4 am, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore that night, so he took a warm shower and got dressed. Grabbing an apple he headed out the door, not knowing where he was going, but not really caring. He needed some fresh air.

When morning came he met up with Sakura, Sai and Yamato, as usual, for training, acting as his old self yet again. No one would ever know that something was wrong, not as long as he put on his happy act, and no one had to know. It was his burden to carry and his alone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters – They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto as you know.

(Read and) Review please – I need reviews so I can improve

Enjoy

**Chapter 2**

Sakura and Yamato were watching Naruto and Sai spar. Naruto had been careless the whole fight and had ended up bruised and beaten, Sai was barely touched the entire fight. _'He seems strangely off today, I wonder if something's up...' _Yamato thought, letting it slide for the moment, but deciding to talk to someone about it later. He wasn't sure who, but he figured he should tell Tsunade. Had it only been this once the undercover ANBU wouldn't have cared so much, but Naruto had been this way for quite some time now.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sai – trainings over for today, you can go home. Naruto, get some rest, you seem exhausted." Blue eyes looked at Yamato, thanking him for not making a fuzz out of Naruto's state. Yamato nodded to acknowledge the boy's thank you, then 'poofed' away in a small cloud of smoke.

"Hey Naruto, wanna go get some ramen at Ichiraku's?" Sakura asked, Sai had long since left to go home.

'_No, not really, I just want to go home and sleep, but considering how that's not possible...' _"Only the two of us go for ramen? Like a DATE?" Naruto asked in his normal, hyper tone, though he was laughing on the inside at the irony of the situation. He didn't harbour any romantic feelings towards Sakura, looking upon her only as a not-so-good friend.

--

Yamato appeared outside the Hokage tower in a cloud of grey smoke. He slowly walked inside and knocked the door to the Hokage's room.

"Enter" He heard Tsunade's voice from the other side.

"Yamato," She said as he pushed the door open and entered, "Why are you here, aren't you supposed to be training with your team now?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama, I am, but I have something I wish to talk to you about. I'm concerned about Naruto's wellbeing. He's been acting strange lately – well, he seems like his happy self, but being around him a lot it's quite easy to see something's off about him – and he is exhausted all the time. His skin is pale and he has blue rings around his eyes too. I just thought the Hokage should know that something was wrong with her 'little brother', it might worry her." Yamato always referred to Naruto as Tsunade's little brother when he spoke to her, because that was how she saw the boy.

Tsunade looked quite disturbed at the news Yamato had brought her. "Thank you for telling me this, Yamato, I'll look into it..." At this Yamato jumped out the window in the back of Tsunade's office and took off.

--

Sakura, Naruto and Chouji were at Ichiraku's eating when Naruto felt a strong wave of nausea hit. He excused himself, saying he was tired, and went back to his apartment where he immediately found his way to the toilet and started vomiting. The nightmares did this to him too, not only did they make him mentally ill, but also physically. He was constantly exhausted and tired, and on top of that his body couldn't handle this for much longer.

After half an hour of crouching over the toilet the nausea left him for the most part, not that it really mattered considering that he had no more contents in his stomach to throw up. He flushed the toilet and stood, walking over to the sink where he washed his hands and face. That's when it caught his eye.

His razor was lying on the sink when he picked it up and looked at it. Tears welled up in his eyes as memories of that night 4 years ago flashed in his head, making him dizzy. This was supposed to make it better, right? Supposed to make the hurt in his mind go away. He decided to try, figuring it couldn't possibly make anything worse than it already was anyways. Putting the cold metal to his skin he slowly pressed it in; surely, blood started to trickle out of the cut and he noticed that as the pain in his arm got the upper hand, the pain is his mind subsided, if only a little. He tried again, this time deeper, and then repeated his actions over and over.

Naruto was sitting on his bathroom floor now, blood pooling around his legs, dripping from the 7 cuts on his arms, staining his clothes. He stood up quickly, which made everything go black and caused him to fall, hitting his head on the sink before landing on the white-tiled floor with a soft thump.

"Oh... OW!" he yelped, then got up again - slowly the second time around - after some minutes. "Now, where are those damned bandages?" He searched for a while, more blood dripping from his arms to the floor, before he eventually found them behind all the various crap in the cabinet under the sink. Quickly he cleaned of his wounds with a wet cloth, then he bandaged them tightly.

"Ite... Ite, ite, ite!" the cuts on his arms hurt, and so did his head after he hit it on the sink. He took a couple of painkillers and dry-swallowed them, then he went to his bedroom, passing out like a light immediately after laying down.

--

"Kakashi," the jounin turned as a familiar voice called his name, finding himself face to face with Kotetsu, "The Hokage wants to see you. _Now._" The other male put extra pressure on the last word, making it clear – after all Kakashi had a habit of being late.

"Sure," Kakashi said, putting his Icha Icha book in his pocket, "I'll go then. Ja, Kotetsu" The shinobi in front of him gave a light nod and was gone.

--

"What was so important I had to stop reading my book and come here, Tsunade?" The godaime hokage simply shrug, used to Kakashi's crude remarks and strange humour.

"I need your help with something," Kakashi raised an eyebrow, not used to being asked for help by anyone if it wasn't mission related, least of all the hokage. "It's concerning Naruto."

"What's happened now, then? Is it Kyuubi related?" The Sannin before him shook her head, downing a glass of sake at the same time."

"No, or at least I don't think the Kyuubi's got anything to do with it," Kakashi looked strangely at her. "You see, Yamato came to me earlier today and..."

"So you want me to find out what's up with the kid?" Kakashi asked. Tsunade merely nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I had in mind. I figured you might be at an advantage in finding out since you were the one who brought him back." Kakashi gestured something meaning yes, at the same time trying to block the pictures of the beaten and bloody thirteen year old Naruto that he had found in the Valley of the End 4 years ago. "Oh, and please pass word to Iruka to be aware of Naruto too, he might know something, after all he's like a father to Naruto."

"Will do," Tsunade smiled, then Kakashi, true to the tradition of the Konoha shinobi, jumped out the window in the back of her office and left.

--

It was already dark outside when Kakashi stood in front of Yamato's door. After he'd knocked a couple of times the door swung open, revealing a slightly messy but not so bad apartment and a Yamato seemingly getting ready to sleep.

"Yo" Kakashi said as Yamato opened the door further and the silver haired jounin stepped inside. Kakashi looked around; Yamatos place was bigger than his, and so much tidier.

"What is it? Any special reason you run around knocking people's doors late at night?" Yamato was teasing Kakashi, who was known for getting around – sleeping around – and was often seen late at night outside the doors of his many lovers.

"Maa, Yamato, there could be a reason, but sadly I'm not into guys." Kakashi smirked and poked Yamato in the shoulder. "But no, this is about Naruto."

"Ah, so Tsunade talked to you, did she? Figures..." Kakashi nodded.

"Yeah, she did... So, Yamato, how 'bout a day off tomorrow? I'll need to see what Naruto's like for myself, so I figured I could be there with them tomorrow for training. You could take the day off, you probably need it." Yamato thought about the proposition for about half a second before replying.

"Sure, fine with me. We usually meet up at training ground seven 9am sharp, you better not be there late, or Sakura'll seriously hurt you. I was 10 minutes late once – she nearly punched my head off. She has that insane Tsunade strength too..." Kakashi and Yamato fell silent, both had felt the fists of both Tsunade and Sakura, and neither had liked it.

"Thanks for the advice, have a good day... Night, whatever..." and with that Kakashi disappeared, only to reappear in his apartment so he could get some hours of sleep before meeting up with team 7 – no, they weren't team 7 anymore – with his – they weren't that either – with Yamato's team. Not being able to call them his any longer somehow left a sting in his heart. They had been his first and only team of genins, and he missed the days when they'd been small and innocent children – that sure hadn't lasted long enough.

The silver haired male pulled of his shirt and pants, leaving only his boxers on, then walked over to his bed and lay down. He stayed awake for at least an hour just thinking about the old days, the happy days, before his exhaustion got the best of him; his eyes closing as he slipped into dreamland.

That night Kakashi dreamed sweet dreams of Rin, Obito and the Yondaime standing beside him, never having died. He dreamt of what his world could have been like had he not let them down, had he been able to save them. He also dreamt of the early stages of his genin team, tem 7. He saw their happy, smiling faces and their carefree way of being, and he smiled. Kakashi smiled in his sleep that night, his first real smile for quite some time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters – They all belong to Masashi Kishimoto as you know.

**Chapter 3**

It was 10 am when Kakashi decided it was time to show for training with his two former students and the newest addition to the team.

"Yo!" Naruto and Sakura turned to see who this not Yamato person who was here to train them was, realizing there was something familiar with the voice and his chakra. Sai merely twitched before he turned.

"Kakashi?!" Sakura and Naruto cried out in unison, their former sensei not who they'd been expecting. Sai was his usual, emotional self, but allowed himself to smile slightly at the happy faces of his teammates.

"Yeah, that's right..." Naruto, who was happy to see his old teacher again, grinned broadly.

"I'm really glad to see you and all, but Kaka-sensei, why are you here and not Yamato? And why were you so late?" Naruto kept his eyes focused on Kakashi, waiting for a reply.

"Well, for your first question, I wanted to see you all again and Yamato was tired, so we decided that I'd be training you today. For your latter question, a little bird had flown into my apartment this morning, and I had to help it back outside..." Kakashi smirked, happy with his excuse.

"LIAR!" Sakura yelled at him, Kakashi immediately settling into his fighting stance, preparing for the hit that never came. "But it's nice that you came, sensei. Long time since we've been all together, isn't it?"

The four of them trained together for a couple of hours, then decided to go for lunch as Naruto's stomach started to growl so loudly it was becoming distracting. Kakashi had already noticed what Yamato had been talking about. Naruto, who may seem just fine to those who didn't know him or bother to look closely, was not himself – rather, he seemed like a mere shadow of the happy, loud and hyperactive person he used to be. _'All people grow up, it's only natural for him to change'_, Kakashi tried to convince himself, though he knew inside that he was only making excuses, not wanting to face the realities of what he might find once he got closer to the source of Naruto's problems. The blond, who had once been Konoha's number one most energetic and hyper ninja, was now a tired and exhausted shell of his old self. All the heartfelt happiness he used to radiate was now replaced by a smile that seemed to be, simply, placed upon his face as a facade.

"...Kakashi, we're talking to you here! Snap out of it already!" Sakura pinched her ex-sensei lightly on the check, making him come back to the real world and putting his trail of though on hold.

"Ah, sorry, I'm just a little tired, now what did you say?" The three chunins sitting there with him obviously accepted his excuse and kept on chattering about any and everything. After the four of them were done eating was getting late, and Kakashi figured he wanted some time alone with Naruto to check up on things.

"Well, it's getting hot out, trainings no good when it's too warm, why don't you go on home?" Naruto was bringing out his wallet to pay for his meal, so were Sakura and Sai, but Kakashi interrupted them. "My treat" he said, smiling. The three chunins got up and started to leave, Sai and Sakura bidding farewell to Naruto as his apartment was on the opposite side of town from the Haruno residence and Sai's place.

--

Naruto started walking, but felt someone tug at his wrist, and turned around.

"Not you, Naruto, you're coming with me" Naruto found himself looking into the visible eye of Kakashi, said male smiling broadly.

"Wha-?" Naruto let out an almost inaudible whimper, Kakashi's grip on his wrist was hurting like hell – the Kyuubi hadn't healed him, saying that if he was going to hurt himself, she wouldn't stop him – and he could feel at least two of the cuts reopening. The whimper had been so low that no one should have heard it, but, of course, Kakashi had.

"Sorry, Naruto, did I hurt you?" The concern in the jounins voice was sincere.

"Nah, you just surprised me is all. What did you want, there must be a reason I had to stay behind?" The copy ninja looked at the boy, into those deep, blue eyes, knowing the boy lied and that his grip had hurt him for some reason. Naruto averted the man's gaze after some time, not able to handle the intense glare.

"Well, people are worrying about you, you see. Yamato and Tsunade in particular, saying you're slacking off at training and that you're constantly tired and exhausted, so they sent me to check on you. They care about you, so they wanted to know if something was up." Naruto let out a little laugh, then shrugged.

'_Oh, Kakashi, if only you knew. You say they care, but__** I**__ couldn't really care much less – the only one I want to - need to - care is you, you're the only one care for, yet you don't even notice me'_ Naruto had given up on ever making Kakashi think of him as anything but the dobe – the dead last – that he was. Heck, after he'd failed to bring back Sasuke there was no chance Kakashi would ever acknowledge him, the Uchiha had been the man's prized student. "If they wanted to know anything they could just ask, and for the record – nothing's up, I just haven't slept enough lately."

'_Why won't you stop lying and just tell me the truth, Naruto. Even I can tell something is wrong, and I'm no good at emotions...'_ Kakashi didn't know when exactly it happened – well, truth be told, he did. It had been this way ever since Naruto had woke up in the hospital after the Valley of the End – but the boy had become so cold, distant even. The cheerful blonde he'd known was no more, the Naruto now was a different person, much more mature, but also much more secluded. He missed the cheerful, spirited child he'd once known. _'say something' _he thought to himself. "So you're sure you're ok?" was the only think he could come up with. He'd never been one with words.

'_Why yes, Kakashi, I'm just fine' _Narutofelt like screaming at the copy nin, the most ironic voice he could muster resounding in his head._ 'The villagers all hate me, my father sealed a demon fox inside me – oh, and by the way I never knew either him or my mother – I've been alone all my life, my best friend nearly killed me – then raped me, oh, and I got raped by fucking Orochimaru and Kabuto too, and you. You won't even notice me, I bet you don't even give a damn if I die, do you? Truth be told, though, you're the only one I want to care, need to care. And on top of that everyone pities me for not having been able to bring back my traitor of a best friend – well they don't know, do they, that he can transform into a fucking DEMON! So yeah, I'm just PEACHY!' _Oh how Naruto wanted to scream, he just wanted to let his emotions out, but he couldn't. He had to do what was expected of him, and what was expected was for him to be his old self and train so hard that he would one day bring back Sasuke, so that's what he did.

"Sure I am" he simply answered. Mask back in place, a very fake and very big grin plastered on his face. The jounin before him shook his head, sadness showing in his visible eye for just one moment before his expression went back to normal. Couldn't the blonde just say what was on his mind?

"Why, Naruto? Why won't you just tell someone the truth for once? Not everyone hates you, you know, we care for you, want to help you, if you just let us..." Naruto felt something inside of him snap. Why didn't he just tell someone? Why? What kind of question was that? All his life no one had ever cared for him and now people said that they did, but if he told them, surely they'd laugh and he'd be even worse off than before – either that or they'd pity him, feel sorry for him, and that was _definitely _not something Naruto wanted.

"Because, Kakashi, there is nothing to say, I'm telling the truth." Again, Kakashi shook his head.

"Naruto, talk to us, please. We can see something is wrong, I can see. Just..." A long pause form the jounin, he was unsure what to say for once in his life. "Trust me."

"_Trust you_?" Naruto looked enraged, his fists clenching and his body language showed all too well that the silver haired male had said something he shouldn't have. "When I was little, all I ever did was trust people and look where that got me! My best friend put his goddamned fist through my chest before he ran away to become a traitor, the fucking bastard's become Orochimaru's slave or something, and the people I care for, well – most of them don't really care much for me. I've got so few people I know I can trust that I can count them on one hand; Iruka, Jiraiya and Tsunade" As Naruto listed the names of his most precious people he counted them with his fingers only inches away from Kakashi's face to make his point clear.

"-they're the closest thing I have to family. Iruka I trust with my life, but I can't tell him everything, because he's too fragile to cope with all the shit that's happened to me and I don't want to hurt him. Tsunade, well, I could tell her anything, she's like a big sister to me, but she'd go on a killing rampage if I told her my whole story, and I don't want that, and then there's Jiraiya. He's the only person who knows all about me, and he's promised me that he won't tell anyone. If there's one thing I learned it's that one should never trust another person before they have proven themselves trustworthy, and all those three have been willing to _die_ for me, so I know I can trust them. Therefore, Kakashi, I'd rather you leave me alone and not try to steal my secrets, because the things you want to know are _my_ memories, not meant for sharing. _**Good bye**_!" With that the blonde stormed off in the direction of his apartment, leaving a stunned and bamboozled Kakashi to gape after him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**I still don't own Naruto, and Masashi Kishimoto still does.

**Reviews**** please**! And thanks to those who have reviewed, I really appreciate it

And I don't mind critics either, so please tell me if I've got something wrong or if you have

any improvements that I should/could make or ideas for me, I'm open to suggestions XD

Here's the next chapter for you, but after this it might take a while unless I get a sudden boost of inspiration and just have to write, 'cause I have several exams and large tests coming up the next weeks...

**Random ****talk:** I've listened to Anberlin almost the whole time whilst writing this chapter, for some reason they're my latest music addiction – they're really good though, you should check them out XD

Enjoy!!

**Chapter 4**

Kakashi was pacing his living room; not knowing what was wrong with Naruto was extremely frustrating, much more so than the jounin had thought it possible. _What the heck is up with that boy_ he thought to himself, _I hope he's not doing something stupid..._

Getting tired of walking the same track over and over in his small living room, the silver haired male decided to do _something_ - he had to get the blonde out of his thoughts. After a moment of thought he left his apartment; soon to appear at the door of one of his many lovers, greeting her with a long passionate kiss before he proceeded to lift her up, kick the door shut and carry her into the bedroom. He had to forget about Naruto for a while, and he didn't care how, he just had to get the boy out of his thoughts.

That night, no matter what he did or what his lover did to him, there was a certain, blonde shinobi that Kakashi just couldn't get out of his thoughts. The young male in his thoughts annoyed him to the extent that after mere hours he excused himself, saying he had to leave to get some sleep for the next day's training, he and Yamato had agreed that Kakashi would be in charge of training the team for a while, Yamato would still be the one to go on missions and such with the team, at least until they had a clue of what was wrong with Naruto.

As soon as he got home Kakashi slumped down on his sofa, his mind working on overdrive to try and figure out what was wrong with his former student. For a long while he contemplated whether or not he should talk to Jiraiya about it – he knew that the sannin wouldn't tell him what Naruto was hiding, but he hoped that he'd at least get a clue as to what was wrong with the boy, and finally decided that he'd track down his favourite author when he got back to Konoha next week and talk to him.

--

Naruto was sitting on his bed, bandages, antiseptic and a pair of scissors lying on the bed besides him. When Kakashi had grabbed his hand earlier his cuts, which the Kyuubi wouldn't heal, had reopened, so now he had to fix them up again. He had just taken off the old bandages and was about to clean the cuts and put on new ones when the scissors entered his mind. They just looked so tempting, lying there on his bed, waiting for him to pick them up. And he did.

He wasn't as careful this time as the first, he didn't see the need to as he pushed the sharp steel edge of one of the scissor blades into the skin on his forearm until it pierced it, the blood trickling slowly from the wound as he pulled the scissors across his skin. It hurt, but that was what he wanted – needed – to forget about his emotions.

After three new cuts, all the new ones much deeper and longer than his previous seven, Naruto cleaned his wounds and bandaged them before he pulled of the bloodied covers and put on some new, clean ones. He didn't want people to know, that wasn't why he was doing it, he just wanted for the hurt to go away. By the time he was done changing his bed the bandages were soaked in blood, but it was drying now. He carefully removed the dirty bandages, not wanting to reopen any more cuts than necessary, then put on new, clean ones.

As it was almost time to get up anyways, Naruto decided that he'd just pull an all-nighter, sleeping for only a couple of hours would just make him even more tired come morning, so he put on a new black t-shirt and a once-used pair of his trademark orange pants, throwing an orange jacket around his shoulders, and went to the kitchen to get something to eat – which translated into cup ramen, since that was all he had- before he headed to the bridge where he waited for three hours before his teammates arrived, then another two for Kakashi to show.

--

"Ko-ni-chi-wa, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed happily as she arrived at the bridge minutes before their scheduled meeting time. She was in an unusually good mood, probably because her date with Neji the night before had gone well, Naruto thought. Although the pink haired girl still had feelings for her runaway teammate, she was working hard on getting over him, and Neji had happened to be just the person for helping her with that. They'd been dating for approximately four months now. The blonde had no clue how such a person as Neji could handle being with someone like Sakura, but he knew it wouldn't be in his best interest to ask, so he kept quiet.

"Good night yesterday?" he asked her dully, not really caring, but knowing that if he didn't ask he'd have to hear her happy-chatter all day long, and he _really_ didn't want that.

"Mhm. Neji took me out to this new place and..." Naruto had learned to channel out anything he didn't care to listen too, and simply nodded and _oh_'ed every once in a while to seem interested. Meanwhile what he was really thinking of was what Kakashi would say today, or if he would say anything at all regarding the events of yesterday.

As the clock struck 9 am Sai appeared with a poof in a cloud of grey smoke, he had made a habit of always being **on** time, not a second earlier or later.

"Hello, team" the pale boy said in his normal, emotionless voice, Naruto turning to face him as Sakura just kept on chattering away.

"Sai" Naruto merely said in acknowledgement before he turned to stare out over Konoha again. Sai looked at the blonde, he was no longer the same person he'd met when he first joined the team one and a half year ago, or at least he seemed different. The boy back then had seemed happier, much more spirited, the person in front of him now was just a shell of the Naruto from back then – and compared to the boy he was before Sasuke ran away this person was not even a shadow – he was so changed, and not for the better, Sai thought.

"You look tired" Sai stated the obvious as he observed the dark circles under Naruto's no longer lively, but rather dull blue eyes, and how the blonde's whole persona seemed exhausted.

"Yeah..." Naruto wasn't sure what to say, he was running out of decent excuses.

"Did you stay up late last night?" Sai offered, there was some sort of understanding between the boys, a strange friendship that no one really understood but them. Both of them had had bad experiences in the past, neither of them really wanted to talk about it, so they let it be. It worked just fine.

Naruto smiled, thanking Sai for not prying any further, "Yeah, I had some... stuff to take care of."

The two boys remained silent for the remaining time until their sensei arrived, both thinking about different things, Sakura going on and on about her date in the background.

--

"YOU'RE LATE AGAIN!" Kakashi flinched as Sakura's voice reached his ears, he was sure his eardrums had ruptured from the volume. For being so small the girl sure could yell.

"Maa... I'm sorry, but I found a lost bird and had to help it find it's nest..." Sakura stared at Kakashi in disbelief, this man was the famous copy-nin, Sharingan Kakashi, and yet he could not come up with a better excuse?

"LIAR! You're lying!" Sai and Naruto had gone a safe distance away when they saw Kakashi arriving, the two were currently looking at the ongoing situation in amusement.

"But I'm not lying, Sakura..." Kakashi enjoyed annoying his students, it was what he found most amusing about being their sensei.

"Never mind that," Sai walked closer to the two, both of them shutting up in surprise. "Can we start training now?"

"Sure, where's Naru..." Kakashi suddenly noticed the figure standing some meters away. "Oh, Hi Naruto, are you coming?" The jounin, who was holding his Icha Icha book in one hand, used his free one to wave at the blonde boy leaning against the rail at the end of the bridge.

"Mm, I'm coming, I'm coming" Naruto put on his mask again, both he and Kakashi knew it was just a facade, an act to the outside world, but the others didn't have to know that.

As the four were standing on the bridge Kakashi briefed them on the missions of the day, then they headed out.

--

The clock was nearing 5 pm as team 7 arrived at Ichiraku's, Kakashi had told them he'd treat them to a meal before their last 'mission' of the day. So far they'd chased down three runaway kittens, helped out with training at the academy and helped the Akimichi clan find some ingredients they needed for a new sort of soldier pill they were working on (forgive me if I'm wrong, but the Akimichi clan – Chouji's family – work with medicines and such, right?) an easy day, but once they finished eating they had some real work to do. For now, though, all members of the team were happy to just eat and relax. Naruto and Sakura were both busy trying to get a glimpse of Kakashi's face as he ate, or for Naruto's part pretended to be, when Sai spoke.

"So," The black haired boy looked at Kakashi, the silver haired male looking up in response. "You haven't told us what the next mission is yet."

"Ah, yes, there was that. Well, it's a reasonably simple C rank, but we'll be gone all night, which is why we're eating now." Kakashi smiled at his team, who all seemed confused.

"Wait, what? What's the mission?" Sakura sat up straight in her chair and poked her team captain in the shoulder. "Why are we doing it at night anyways?"

Kakashi turned his head to Sakura as she spoke, he hadn't really noticed earlier, but she'd changed too. She wasn't the squealing, selfish, annoying fangirl she used to be – she too had matured. The pink haired girl had become a great medical ninja after training with Tsunade for so long, she'd also gotten rid of that horrible selfishness she used to possess, which in turn led her to be less annoying and better at understanding people. Her voice had not changed though, he thought, it was still as piercing to his ears as ever.

"Oh, I wanted to give you a surprise" Kakashi smiled, in truth he'd just forgotten to tell them what the last mission was about, but it shouldn't be a big deal anyways, it was only C ranked. "Listen up, you too Naruto," Kakashi ruffled the blonde's hair to get his attention, the two others were already looking at him, but Naruto seemed to be lost somewhere in his own thoughts.

"Hm. What?" Naruto looked up, he'd been too busy trying to ignore the burning feeling from cuts on his forearms to pay attention, a pained expression came to his face as he lost his focus, but he regained his posture in less than a second.

"Did you stay up late, Naruto? You look tired." Naruto nodded his head, he knew he'd have to listen to his sensei lecturing him later, but for now he was off the hook since the rest of the team was there too. "I'm going to brief you about the mission now, so you better listen..."

It took about 10 minutes for Kakashi to explain their nightly mission. Team seven had been hired for the mission by the owner of a small antiquary in Konoha. The man, Matsumoto Jiro, who had requested the team especially, possessed a certain scroll – He said it was a one of a kind which contained information on the 9 demons – which, some days in advance, he had received a letter about. The letter, which Kakashi showed had showed to his team whilst explain, said that unless Matsumoto met the sender at a clearing in the forest about 10 kilometres outside of Konoha and handed over the scroll tonight at midnight his family would be in danger. The mission was basically to protect Matsumoto and keep the scroll safe, and also to capture, or if necessary kill the person trying to steal it.

The group and Matsumoto-san had agreed to meet at the southern gate at 7.30 pm and head out as soon as all of them were there. It would take them somewhere around two and a half hours to walk all the way to their destination, but since they left so early it would leave them approximately two hours to prepare.

At 7.30 Matsumoto, and team 7 minus Kakashi had showed, which came as no surprise to any of the aforementioned, Kakashi was, after all, famous as much for his lateness and laziness as for his skills. Within 5 minutes, to everyone's surprise, Kakashi showed, this was the closest he'd ever been to being on time.

"Wow, sensei, you're almost on time, are you sick or something?" Sakura walked over to her team captain and pretended to check if he had a fever.

"Nah, but there were surprisingly no little animals to help, and the way here was quite easy, so I managed to get here on time..." Kakashi trailed off as he looked at the blonde boy who was standing at the gate, his back leaning against the wall – Naruto had been even quieter than usual today and Kakashi couldn't help but wonder what was the matter with the boy.

"Shall we go, then?" Matsumoto's voice ended the strange silence that had engulfed them all. The small man walked through the gate, Naruto immediately following him, not saying a word. Sai looked at his blonde friend with concern before he too started moving. Kakashi and Sakura formed the back troop, walking together with Matsumoto-san and Sai and Naruto were on guard, patrolling from up in the trees.

--

They arrived at the small clearing twenty minutes past 10, only a little behind schedule, and started getting ready for the real mission. All four shinobi and their employer were wearing headsets so they could communicate as team 7 had already taken their positions up in the trees, now all they had to do was wait.

Time passed slowly as they waited for their target to arrive, and there were only minutes left till he was supposed to show. Suddenly, when there was only five minutes left till midnight, the four Konoha shinobi picked up on a foreign chakra.

"Help..." Sakura's voice was heard across their radios before a strange, crackling noise took over, the three remaining shinobi sharpening their sense, Matsumoto stayed put.

"Well, Well, Team 7, haven't I waited to meet you for quite some time?" A familiar voice came across their radio transmitters. Naruto froze as he realized who the voice belonged to, this was not good.

"No way..." Naruto whispered to no one in particular as his body gave an involuntary shiver.

"Yes way. It's me. Long time no see, Naruto. Kakashi you too, Sai, I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting." The cold, emotionless voice again sounded over the radio, this time Kakashi also recognized it.

"Itachi... What are you here for? This isn't about the scroll, is it?" Naruto sounded colder than either Kakashi or Sai had ever heard him before, neither of them knew this side of him.

"No, you figured that much, huh? You've grown, Naruto-kun. Last time we met you were just a knucklehead ninja, your time with Jiraiya must've paid off..." Naruto froze, how did Itachi know what he'd been doing for the past years?

"Itachi, what are you planning on? What's the reason for this?" Kakashi's voice was loaded with anger, last time he'd seen the man he'd been trapped in the Mangekyo Sharingan, now he wanted revenge.

"Well, I suppose you've all heard of Akatsuki, right? Well, we're... Conducting an experiment, one could say, and we sort of need Naruto to complete that experiment. Oh, by the way, Matsumoto down there, that's not really Matsumoto, he's dead, this would be my teammate Kisame. You guys should learn not to trust people so easily, really..."

"Get to the point, Itachi, why do you need me?" Naruto sounded almost as if he didn't care when he spoke.

"Well, point being, me and dear Kisame down there know where all of you are, and I've got your dear little Sakura-chan here, I can kill her whenever I want seeing as she's unconscious – she might be one hell of a medic nin for all I care, but she's really bad at noticing things around her – anyways, Naruto, if you come with us we'll leave her here alive, if not then it's bye bye Sakura. What do you say, hm?" Now it was Kakashi's turn to freeze, he knew what Naruto's answer would be, and he had no idea how to stop him. He was about to say something when he heard Sai's voice across the radio.

"Naruto, I already know that you are going to do it, but it's stupid. We'll come for you, though, promise."

"Thanks, Sai" Kakashi couldn't believe what he'd just heard, was Sai just going to let the blond go.

"Naruto..." He was broken off by the blonde's voice.

"I'm going, Kakashi. It doesn't matter if they get me, hell, people will probably be happy about it. Itachi, once I go down to Kisame you drop Sakura down in the clearing, ok? If not I'll have to put up a fight, and that'll be unnecessary for all of us."

"Hn" It wasn't much of a reply, but the signature Uchiha grunt was enough of a yes for Naruto as he jumped out of his hiding spot and down to the strange person standing down at the clearing. Once he got down Kisame took Naruto's radio, along with his own, and crushed them.

"'Atta boy, Naruto." Itachi jumped out from his position in the trees and threw Sakura to the ground. "And here's your girl, Kakashi, She's unharmed, just sleeping like a princess." With that Itachi also took out his own radio and threw it at the pink haired girl lying mere meters away from him, then he smirked.

Kakashi and Sai both remained silent up in the trees as they carefully watched what was going on down on the ground.

"Kakashi, too bad we didn't meet face to face this time, but I'm sure we'll meet again in not too long, and then I'll fight you. I want to kill you with my own two eyes." Itachi Talked loud enough for Kakashi to hear, an evil grin plastered across his usually stoic face as he spoke.

Naruto, who had just been standing there, suddenly turned to face where he knew Sai was hiding. "Sai, you better keep that promise, 'cause I don't really want die some stupid way... I gotta get back Sasuke AND become hokage before I can die, you know." All of a sudden Naruto collapsed, Itachi gracefully picking him up from the ground and holding the teen bridal style, it took all of Kakashi's willpower not to jump down to the clearing and do something stupid. The copy nin wondered how Sai could stay so calm even in these situations.

"Don't worry, Sharingan Kakashi, Naruto's just sleeping, Kisame gave him a little sedative when he jumped down here, it's not the Mangekyo if that's what you thought, he's so cooperative I didn't have to use that" With that and an annoyed grunt from Kisame the duo, and Naruto, disappeared in a cloud of smoke – _caused by smoke bombs, _Kakashi thought - and Sai and Kakashi both arrived at Sakuras side to check on her.

A few minutes passed before Sakura woke, slightly dizzy but nothing else was wrong with her.

"What happened...?" Her voice was confused as the asked. "Where's Naruto?"

Kakashi quickly explained the situation to her, when he was done she was hitting herself on the head over and over for having been to careless, tears running down her cheeks for knowing it was her fault they'd gotten Naruto.

The three remaining members of team 7 discussed what to do for some minutes, finally settling on a solution. They still had two intact radios; Sakura, who was still a bit out of it, would take one. She would return to Konoha and report the situation, then get more shinobi to help out in the search. Kakashi and Sai would take the other radio. They would also follow Naruto and Itachi's trail, the faster they could find them the better.

As soon as they made sure Sakura was ok to get back to the village on her own the three shinobi split up and ran into the night.

--

Itachi and Kisame were running through the woods, they had a long ways to go.

"Damn, this would be so much simpler if the brat was awake, can't you just wake him – it's not like he's gonna run anyways..." Kisame had been nagging Itachi for quite some time about waking Naruto and letting him walk himself.

"I suppose you're right. God knows what they've done to him in that village, but I sure don't mind, cause it's made our job a lot easier."

It took a few minutes after Itachi injected him with the antidote to the sedative he'd been given earlier before Naruto completely regained consciousness. He looked around him for a while before he noticed the two males that were standing around him, the memories of earlier that night coming back to him.

"Where are you taking me?" Naruto didn't care what they did to him. Kakashi hadn't even tried to stop him, he didn't care. Naruto didn't know why, but every time he thought about the male his heart skipped a beat, it was as if he was trapped in a dream that someday Kakashi would care for him, but he'd long since resigned himself to that that day would not come, so he didn't care what happened to him anymore.

"Wait and see," Itachi looked into his eyes, but instead of the sharingan Naruto expected there were only onyx eyes looking into his blue. "Just wait and see."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:**And yet again this evil note... I. Do. Not. Own. Naruto. Wish I did though, but I don't.

**Reviews**** please**!

I don't mind critics either, so please tell me if I've got something wrong or if you have

any improvements that I should/could make or ideas for me, I'm open to suggestions XD

**Random Talk:** Thank you to those of you who have reviewed, you know who you are, I

really, really appreciate it 3

Okay, so this chapter is gonna be much shorter than the last one, but chapter 4 was 8 pages, so I hope it's ok with you guys

A-ny-ways, since it's now Sunday I have to go to bed sometime before midnight, which is the reason for this chapter not being so long – that might sound strange, but for some reason my brain works best sometime between 00 and 03 am, or just in general between midnight and 7, but I'm going to write it a decent length anyways, so ENJOY

I don't really like this chapter all that well, but bear with me, ne? Once I'm done with all these big tests I'll make it up to you, that's a promise

**Chapter 5**

"_Wait and see," Itachi looked into his eyes, but instead of the sharingan Naruto expected there were only onyx eyes looking into his blue. "Just wait and see."_

Kakashi and Sai were racing through the woods, Itachi's trail was faint, but they were getting closer to the source every second. An hour earlier they'd received a message from Sakura that two backup-teams - the first consisting of Shikamaru as the team leader, herself, Neji and Kiba, the second team was led by Gai, who would be bringing Lee, Hinata and Tenten –were going after them. Minutes after the message had come through the radios had gone out of signalling area, but it was assuring to know that two teams were coming to aid them.

The two males jumping through the treetops had been quiet since they left Sakura 5 hours ago, Sai was simply not one for talking and Kakashi was too busy thinking. Oh sure, he'd heard of Akatsuki, he'd even been on information gathering missions about them, but what could they possibly want with Naruto? He supposed it was either something regarding the Kyuubi or Sasuke, but he hadn't even got the faintest clue as to what. _Why did he just leave without putting up a fight? _ The question kept repeating itself in the jounin's mind, _and why didn't I stop him?_

--

As the sun rose slowly, three shadows sat around a fire in a clearing. Itachi had insisted on that they stop and make some food, he wasn't at all worried about their followers catching up, but he _was_ hungry.

"Damn, they're getting closer, Itachi-san (A/N: Does he say san or sama? Or doesn't he use any of those honorifics? Anyone knows, please tell me ) , we should hurry" Kisame was annoyed, really annoyed. Itachi was taking his sweet time to the extent that it almost seemed as if he _wanted _the shinobi who were tracking them to catch up. Naruto was just cooperatively following his captors, he didn't even bother to try and escape.

"Well, if they find us it'll be a fun match – that, and I can finally finish of that fucking copy cat Hatake... Last time I didn't get to have as much fun as I wanted with him" Itachi's lips twitched into a devilish smile only to return to his trademark impassive expression a short moment later.

"I suppose - heck, he'd be no match for you - but I don't get how they can keep up, they should be far behind if they went back to Konoha to get backup, unless..." Kisame too grinned, as he realized how things were fairing.

"So you get it now, Kisame? I've known for quite some while that it's only Kakashi and the ANBU who are after us. Took you a while to notice, didn't it?" Naruto suddenly looked up, he knew there was something strange about Sai, but ANBU?

"Ne, Itachi," Naruto wasn't sure if he should speak, but as Itachi just glared at him and kept eating he continued. "You said something about Sai being an ANBU?"

"Hn. Yeah, he's from the Root ANBU, a special division where they train kids from they're young, they're like extremist shinobi, training the kids not to have emotions or such... Back when I still lived in Konoha that little kid started training, so I've seen him before – it's kinda hard not to recognize someone that pale..." The short explanation Itachi offered made everything about Sai much more understandable to Naruto, it wasn't that he couldn't interact with people, he just didn't know how. It was as if they'd raised him to be a... A tool.

"So they basically train them to be little Uchiha clones." Naruto knew he was pushing his luck, but honestly he didn't care if he died, and he had a faint idea that these people and the Akatsuki wanted him alive anyways. Kisame let out a chuckle at Naruto's statement, what he said was all too true, he wasn't even sure if an Uchiha had emotions to begin with.

"Lucky for you we need you alive, brat" Itachi swallowed the remnants of his food in a hurry and rose to his feet. "Now let's get going, they're gaining on us." The Uchiha was slightly offended by the Jinchuuriki, but no way was he going to let that show. The three kept quiet as they continued to wherever they were going, where that was, Naruto didn't know.

--

Sakura was still furious with herself for having been so careless during their last 'mission'. Had she just not been so stupid thinking it was a simple mission that she relaxed then Itachi might not have gotten to her, and if he hadn't gotten to her Naruto could be safe right at this moment. Her fists clenched as she thought back to when she'd stormed into Tsunades office panting out the reason for why she returned alone.

_- Flashback – _

"_WHAT? The Akatsuki got to him" Tsunade had been furious, slamming her fist into her desk so hard it split in two. "Damn, this is bad... What Akatsuki members was it that took him away, Sakura?" The pink haired kunoichi flinched, afraid of the blonde's reaction once she heard who had taken the blonde away._

"_Well... Uhm..." Tsunade was impatient, she'd already sent for whatever shinobi that weren't already busy with other tasks and missions._

"_Well what? Who was it, Sakura?" The girl in question closed her eyes, hoping whole heartedly that she wouldn't get killed as she whispered the names of the two men who'd taken Naruto away._

"_Kisame and..." She hesitated for a moment. "Itachi."_

_Silence. Tsunade's expression changed from anger to fear as the hokage realized exactly how much trouble they might be in – if they'd sent Itachi to get the boy then it had to be something important. She knew from before, and from Jiraiya's latest new that they were planning something big, but Jiraiya wasn't coming back with the news of what for another five days. _

"_Damn..." The big breasted woman was about to say something more when the doors to her office were flung open, 7 shinobi storming in. Surprisingly, Hyuuga Hinata, the shy and slightly unsocial heir to the Hyuuga clan was the first to speak. _

"_We... We h-heard something h-happened to Naruto-kun and that you n-needed us immediately" The poor girl still had a problem with stuttering, though this had gotten quite a lot better since her genin days. _

_When Tsunade was done explaining the situation to the 8 shinobi, they quickly decided on who would be in teams and set out as soon as they could. _

_- Flashback Over -_

Currently the two teams were moving at their top speed to get closer to Kakashi and Sai. Kiba, with his keen sense of smell, along with the two Hyuugas were leading the pack of 8 shinobi, they _had_ to catch up before something serious happened.

--

"Would you care to tell my why we're stopping at a place like this, Itachi-san?" Kisame was getting tired of Itachi's strange plans, and this time he really thought the Uchiha had gone too far. They had stopped in the middle of nowhere and were now in a rather large cave system behind a waterfall. The blue skinned missing nin had racked his head for any possible reason why they were stopping at a place like this, but he had found none, hence he asked.

"Oh, you see Kisame-san, after giving it a bit of thought I figured that I want to settle my score with that annoying Hatake-san, he owes me a fight, and I want to crush him. They were gaining on us and would eventually catch up, why not fight them before their backup arrives. Nothing more, really" Naruto, who had already decided not to care what happened, felt his heart skip a beat at the mention of his sensei. He didn't want the man to get hurt, he cared about him.

"Well, I can't really go anywhere without you and that..."" Kisame pointed his large, bandage covered sword at Naruto "Demon." The blonde who had remained silent throughout the whole conversation stirred, enough was enough, no one was going to call him a demon.

"Look who's talking, fish-boy" Naruto was referring to the gills on Kisame's neck and his blue skin as he spoke, knowing that he was in for it, but he couldn't stop himself. "You call me a demon, yet... Well, have you ever seen yourself, you freak!"

"You'll wish you hadn't said that, fox-boy, I'd kill you right here and now if we didn't need you for later, but a little torture wouldn't hurt, right. Itachi, who had been standing a distance away from the other two, caught a glimpse of Kisame tearing the bandages off the samehada before he lashed out against Naruto – the boy, as thanks to his incredible reflexes and probably, Itachi guessed, partially the Kyuubi jumped out of the way as the large sword left a large crater in the ground.

"STOP! Both of you, really, do you have to act like little kids? You remind me of Sasuke, be ashamed of yourselves" Itachi frowned, which was the most emotional he usually got. Truth be told he missed his brother (A/N: see the latest chapters of the manga if you haven't read them and you'll understand), he'd never wanted to leave, but this was how his life had turned out and he knew that there was very little he could do to change it.

"But Itachi-sama, I'm not going to kill him, just have a little fun..." Kisame stepped aside, Naruto stayed where he was, completely passive to the situation.

"No. No one will torture anyone, now both of you shut up. We're staying here till the rest of your – " the Uchiha pointed to Naruto, his face displaying a 'if you do anything to annoy me you _will_ die' look "team."

"Hai" The missing nin from the mist sat down, still very annoyed but he would follow the Uchiha's orders not matter what. Naruto merely walked off into a corner and leant against the wall.

--

"How far would you say we have left, Kiba?" Shikamaru yelled out to his teammate as he kept on running, they'd been going for almost an entire day and all of them were tiring quickly.

"Well, we're closing in fast, seems as if they've stopped up for some reason, I'd say about 3 and a half hours topps." Akamaru barked in agreement to his owners statement, the nin-dog, who had become very large lately, was following the two shinobi teams from the ground.

"Tell Neji and Hinata once we get within a 5 kilometre radius so they can activate their byakugan, we'll need it. And good job, Kiba" Shikamaru, who was the tactical genius of the group, had been leading the mission since they left Konoha. Although Gai was higher in rank not even he could measure up to the go-loving boy's smarts, and so it had been decided that the lazy chunin would lead the mission.

"I will, Shika" With a movement of his hand Kiba announced the end of the conversation and returned his full attention to the task of following Kakashi and Sai's scent.

Sakura, who formed the back troop together with Lee, still couldn't get her head off the fact that all this was her fault. Once they brought Naruto back to Konoha she'd have to train hard so that something like this couldn't happen again. Suddenly Lee, who had been observing her for quite some time, spoke.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, are you alright? You look troubled..." The boy had had a crush on her for quite some time when they were smaller but now they were close friends, had been since the Spandex-clad boy realized there could never be anything more between them.

"Yeah, sure, I just can't help feeling that all this is my fault... If I just hadn't been so careless this would never have happened..." Lee gave the girl a small smile and told her, as he had so many times before that it was not her fault.

"...I'll even help you train when we get back to Konoha, huh, how does that sound?" Sakura really appreciated the boy's concern and nodded, then they both continued on in silence.

--

Hours passed as the two high level shinobi followed the trail of their missing teammate and his captors, and little by little they'd been getting closer to what they were looking for. Abruptly, as if it had just been cut off, the chakra trail the two males been following disappeared as they arrived at a large waterfall. Dumbfounded by the sudden lack of any clue as to where their targets might have gone, Kakashi and Sai both started looking for possible places the two Akatsuki members and Naruto could have escaped to.

"Any luck finding anything?" Sai looked in the direction of Kakashi's voice, they'd been searching for hours but to no avail, it really seemed as if those they were looking for had simply gone missing of the face of the earth.

"No, nothing ye..." He stopped talking as a faint noise graced his ears, it sounded like someone yelling, though he couldn't be sure because the sound had been inaudible. Sai looked around for a moment, from seeing Kakashi's expression he knew the older male had heard it too. "It came from behind the waterfall, shall I go check?" Sai's voice was just as stoic as usual, but inside he felt a flicker of hope that maybe, just maybe Naruto would be here.

"Yeah, I'll set up something for the others to see where we've gone. And Hurry, please." Kakashi quickly set to work on making a sign, not something that an outsider would recognize, but Shikamaru would understand, and set it up. Once he was finished he looked over to Sai who had stopped close to the edge of the waterfall.

"It's in here, there's an opening like for a cave or tunnel, let's go."

Kakashi hurried over to where Sai was standing, then both walked through the waterfall and continued in through the system of tunnels. Neither had any idea where to go, and after having walked for only a matter of minutes it was getting cold, their wet clothes not helping, but they knew that the people they were looking for had to be somewhere inside.

When they'd been walking for approximately half an hour the tunnel split in three, so far it'd stayed as one, but this could prove to be a problem.

"Wait, I'll send out my 'monsters' to check where they are" Kakashi sighed in relief, he'd almost forgotten about Sai's extraordinary abilities. As the two men waited for Sai's strange drawings to return they stood in silence, both hoping that they'd find what they were looking for soon.

Within 15 minutes the three creatures which Sai had sent out returned, they'd found what they were looking for.

"It'd about a kilometre in through the left tunnel," Sai pointed to the smallest of the tunnels, tacks hanging from the roof and moss covering the entire surface of the walls, not an inviting sight, "then we take the tunnel to the right and walk for some minutes and we're there."

The two shinobi walked carefully though the tunnel, they had to take care not to make sounds to alert their enemies, and sure enough, after following the directions of Sai's creatures they arrived at the entrance to a larger cave.

Kakashi could feel a strange presence from inside the cave, but there was no noise. Then someone spoke.

"Welcome, Kakashi. Sai. We've been awaiting you." Itachi's loud, clear voice resounded throughout the tunnels.

_Damn, we've been set up_. Kakashi was furious with himself for not having thought of that possibility; it was fairly obvious, after all. _Damn, what now. He must really want a fight... We have no choice if we want Naruto back..._

"Sai, are you up for fight?" Kakashi turned to the younger man, sizing him up carefully.

"Yeah"

"Just remember – don't look into his eyes, then you're done for." With that the two shinobi stepped out of the shadows and into the large cave where Itachi was waiting.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** And as you all know, I still do not own Naruto... Do you think I would be writing fanfics to it instead of making the manga if I did?

**Random talk:**Oh, look, a new chapter! – Okay, so I should be focusing on school, not this, but I'm just so tired of reading all those boring books, and then there's this pretty little word document that keeps calling out to me... I'm addicted to writing, really, whenever I don't I can't even sleep until the middle of the night cause my brain goes on overload...

So, anyways, here it is. As my sweet Cerealcheese2 pointed out, the last chapter didn't seem to have that much of a connection to the rest of the story, but that connection will become a little more apparent in this chapter and will probably kick in full in the next chapter though  Again, thank you to those of you who review, it really makes it worth writing and posting these things

**R&R** please and thank you 3

**Chapter 6**

"I see you decided to join us Kakashi, Sai." Itachi couldn't help but smirk, his plans were just too good. That damn copy-nin would get what he deserved, and so much more.

"Sai, be careful, remember what I said about his eyes?" Sai nodded, he knew about the sharingan before, and he'd seen people who'd experienced it – he did not want to be one of them. "Well then, Itachi, you must have some plan for leading us here, may I ask what you're thinking?"

"Well, you see, I feel that we didn't quite finish off last time we met, Hatake-san, so I wanted to settle the score. One fight, that's all I need – I'll kill you anyways, so it's not like there could be any more..." Not waiting for a reply Itachi moved forwards at the same time as he signalled something to Kisame, the blue skinned male bringing out his large sword before he too charged forwards.

Sai and Kakashi had to go separate ways to avoid the attacks; both knew that being separated could not be good. Kisame was now standing only meters away from Sai, the missing-nin grinned as he knew the odds of this fight were well in his favour. Itachi and Kakashi were standing a distance away from the two others, closer to Naruto, who Kakashi notices was just sitting still with his eyes closed by a wall – he assumed Itachi had either knocked the boy out or given him a sort of sedative.

"Kisame, you handle that brat, I'll take care of Kakashi here..." A rougeish smile spread across Itachi's face as he spoke, the nin casting a brief look at Naruto before he once again charge at the silver haired man in front of him.

--

"We're real close now, I'd say one hour at most" Kiba grinned, they were finally catching up the others.

"Neij, Hinata, you guys better be on guard in case there are traps or something, and keep on the watch for any outsiders!" Nara Shikamaru, the tactical genius of Konoha's younger generation was tensing up, when they were this close they never knew what traps their enemies might have set or if there were any fiendish shinobi on guard.

The two teams had been going at top speed for hours; they'd only stopped once to eat when Hinata looked about ready to pass out. Now that they were closing in on their target their speed slowed a little, they all knew to save their energy in case of a fight and they had to be on guard for any-and every little detail that might lead them to their teammates.

Sakura was relieved as they got closer, the fact that Naruto's, and also Kakashi and Sai's scents were still fresh, according to Kiba, calmed her somewhat. That would mean that they were still alive and out there.

Suddenly Kiba stopped running, his nose twitching as if he'd caught onto some strange new smell.  
"There's something new here" Shikamaru wasn't surprised, he'd expected as much. "There should be two enemy shinobi, and their chakras are both exceptional... Seriously, Sakura, what kind of people are these?"

"I... I really don't know more than you do..." Sakura shook her head, it was true. She didn't know the first thing about Kisame, and as for Itachi – she didn't really know more than that he was one of the two last remaining Uchiha, a dangerous missing nin and member of Akatsuki, and also Sasuke's brother.

"I'll tell you," Gai suddenly spoke, the man, who was clad in green spandex for some inexplicable reason, ran forwards until he was in the middle of the group. "You see, I've fought these two before, and their terrible strong both of them, but mine and Kakashi's spirit of youth has already defeated them once..." A voice interrupted the eager male, surprisingly it was TenTen who had spoke.

"Sensei, get to the point, please, we don't have all the time in the world." Everyone looked stunned including the girls Sensei, then he smiled.

"I suppose you are right, my wonderful student" _Damn, that man is so overly positive_. Shikamaru had never understood how anyone could put up with people like Gai and Lee, but they were great Shinobi both of them, so he tolerated them. "Well then. The blue skinned one, Kisame, is a missing nin from the mist, once one of the seven swordsmen, too. He has tremendous power and his chakra reserves are said to be comparable to Naruto's when he is using the Kyuubi's Chakra. His sword is also one of a kind; the Samehada. It's a special sword, and instead of slicing things it shaves them off, so if it comes in contact with your skin, well, you won't have any. Then, as you all know, there's Itachi. I trust you know a bit about him from before. One thing though, do never look directly into his eyes, for if you do you will be trapped in his Sharingan and he will slowly blow out your flames of youth."

As Gai was finished talking there was silence, it was as if all the shinobi there with him suddenly realized the mess that both they and their 'missing' teammates may be in.

--

Itachi now had the upper hand in the fight, which was bad considering that it had only been going on for about 20 minutes, and Kakashi was tiring fast. Sai was also having a hard time, the boy didn't even bother to fight back, he had more than enough avoiding and protecting against the Samehada. The boy's left arm was bleeding as a result of carelessness at the beginning of the fight, since then he'd been much more aware of the mist swordsman's actions.

As Kakashi stood, panting loudly, Itachi waited. _Something's wrong. _Kakashi had a bad, bad feeling, The other shinobi wouldn't stop unless he had a trick up his sleeve. _Something is really wrong_. He had no idea how right he was.

"You seem tired, Hatake-san, need a rest, perhapt?" Itachi was taunting him, Kakashi knew. He was already exhausted from the fight, if kill him was what the Uchiha wished to do he could easily do it at any moment, but he didn't. _Damn, I have to find out what he has up his sleeve... What is he planning?_

Naruto, who had been slumped in a corner the whole fight unconscious, stirred. _No. There's no way he's going to mess with Naruto, that can't be it... _The younger male took of his large cloak embedded with the distinctive Akatsuki pattern and threw it to the ground, then he looked back towards Naruto.

"Naru_-chan_, time to wake up, there's someone here who wants to see you, I believe." Once more the blonde stirred, then, slowly, his eyelids lifted to reveal not his blue eyes, but red. Itachi's lips twitched up into a sly smile for a moment, his plan was perfect, then they returned to their stoic Uchiha expression.

"Naruto..." The blonde didn't react. _What's going on here? Why does Naruto have red eyes as if the Kyuubi was taking contro..._ "Itachi! What have you done to him? What are you thi-" There was no more time to speak as the blonde lunged forwards, his claws digging into the flesh of his unprepared sensei's shoulder blades. Kakashi had no time to react, he was paralyzed by the turn of things, and as quickly as he'd leapt forwards Naruto was back by Itachi's side.

"Oh, you see, it's not that hard... A little persuasion and... Well, the rest is my secret, but I'm sure you'll figure it out"_ What the hell is going on? _Kakashi's shoulders hurt, blood running quickly from the deep gashes Naruto's claws had left, the pain went in waves through his arms, but he pushed it to the back of his mind – there were more important matter pressing, like Naruto. He couldn't, wouldn't understand why the blonde was doing this.

Time and time again the blonde boy lashed out at his sensei, kunai were constantly whizzing about the jounin's head, shuriken aimed at him that he was barely able to deflect. _I can't hold out much longer, Naruto..._

_--_

"Naruto, why are you doing this?" Kakashi's voice was shaking, and he was about ready to collapse from exhaustion._ Please stop, Naruto, because I can't stop you... _ This was a fight he could never win, he would never seriously hurt or at that even think of killing one of his teammates, least of all Naruto, but to win this fight he would have to.

"Haven't you realized yet?" A low chuckle escaped the Uchiha's lips as he spoke. "Well, you see, he's trapped in a little genjutsu (A/N: Is it spelt genjutsu or gen-jutsu?) of mine, he doesn't really know what he's doing, Kakashi, but... Well, if you really want me to I'll release him..." _Of course, why didn't I realize... _Kakashi was furious with himself for not having though of the possibility earlier, the anger showing in his eyes. An evil look spread across Itachi's face as he ended the genjutsu, Naruto falling to the floor with a thud. Sai, who was panting heavily, exhausted from having to defend against Kisame's attacks, turned his head for a brief moment to see what was going on, almost getting hit by the samehada, but he managed avoid it just in time.

"I have something much worse I can do..." As he spoke, Itachi walked over to the unconscious Naruto and lifted him off the ground, holding the boy close to his chest. "Something like this" Itachi pressed his lips against the blonde's and for Kakashi it felt as though his heart had just been ripped to pieces. Suddenly Naruto started to move, his body protesting with all the energy he had left, and too late did Kakashi understand Itachi's motives.

"NO! Naruto, don't open your ey..." Too late. As Sai turned to see the reason the his older teammate was screaming the samehada hit, knocking the black-haired boy into a nearby wall so hard he fell to the ground unconscious, but he stayed with so long that he just reached to see Naruto's blue eyes open, and that there to meet them were the oldest Uchiha's blood red sharingan.

"I have a plan for this boy, dear Kakashi, but as you know the sharingan requires quite a lot from its user, and so I will let my partner deal with you for now. I promise you, though, that I will be the one to finish you off..." Kakashi regained his movements just in time to move out of the way as Kisame came forth at full speed, now was not the time to worry about Naruto however much his mind strayed, he had to focus on staying alive. The backup should be here in not too long now, and when they arrived, Naruto would be safe, he just had to hold up until they arrived.

--

"What is it, Kiba?" Akamaru stirred when Shikamaru spoke, the dog, as well as its owner, looked utterly confused.

"Uhm... The trail just sort of..." the dog-nin was unsure what to say, he looked at his white dog who barked something at him, then he spoke again. "Ended. It's gone, just like that..." Everyone in the group looked at the boy, the same thought on everyone's mind; how could the trail just disappear? They'd been following it for so long; it couldn't just be gone, could it?

"E-everyone?" Hinata's voice was hesitant as she spoke, she was never one good with words as shy as she was, but her stuttering _had_ improved a lot since their younger days. "Ano... L-look over there, it seems just as if someone left it like that on purpose..." Everyone's heads turned in the direction the Hyuuga's hand was pointing, and sure enough, there was a branch sticking out of the middle of the waterfall.

Shikamaru was the first to go over and examine the branch, it only took him some minutes to understand the clue.

"Good job, Hinata-chan" Kiba patted the pale girl's back, he'd do anything to be close to her – he'd had a crush on her ever since their genin days, but for some reason she was the only person in the whole wide world whom he found it hard to romance with. It was as if she was too innocent, to pure to be with someone like him, he though, after all he'd been with so many, and of both sexes that he'd probably corrupt her or something if they even came close.

"Yeah, thanks." Shikamaru turned to face his team and Gai's. "Well, Kakashi definitely was the one who left this here, so I suppose we should enter, there's some sort of a cave right behind the waterfall. Once we get inside, Neji, Hinata, use your byukugan to try and locate our targets, then we move.

One after one the eight ninja entered the small tunnel, Neji was first to go inside after him Hinata and then the rest of the group.

"Byakugan" A whisper sounded as both Hyuuga's activated their kekkei genkai (A/N: that means bloodline limit) slowly looking around for their mission targets and missing teammates as the others were slowly adjusting to the darkness.

"Found them, Shikamaru." Neji's lips curved into a content smile, they were almost there now, and soon they'd be able to get Naruto, Kakashi and Sai home safe and sound. "They this way, come" As Neji led the way through the tunnels, time was growing sparce.

--

Kakashi was in deep shit, probably the worst mess he'd been in for a long time. His chakra reserves were dangerously low and his energy was quickly running out as Kisame kept going at him. Sai, who was bleeding heavily from when the samehada hit him across the chest and knocked him out, was still curled up against a wall, his fair skin was even paler than usual, Kakashi noted, something which could not possibly be good.

_They better be her soon or we're all goners..._ Kakashi was worn out, and for the first time in his life he was unsure of whether he'd come out of a battle with his life or not.

"What's the matter, wolf?" Kisame, who was also getting worn, but he wasn't half as exhausted as his opponent, was mocking Kakashi.

_Damn, if I could only get close enough to Itachi to get one hit then I could at least do something, in this state though... _"Fuck off, Fish-man. Our backup is on the way, they'll be here any minute, and then it's you who's not doing to good, isn't it?" _Why did you do that, Kakashi, why? Can't you just shut up_? Kakashi knew it wasn't smart to insult his opponent, it would only fuel the male, but he couldn't help it. He knew that the mist-nin wouldn't kill him, but he doubted the man wouldn't mind leaving him half dead, anything probably went as long as Itachi could kill him. The once so self-confident Kakashi was reduced to asking the gods which he did not believe in for mercy.

--

-In Konoha-

Tsunade was looking out her window, waiting. Today was the day for both Yamato's and Jiraiya's return, and she needed them both.

Why had this had to happen now? Why did it have to get this bad? Thoughts were running through the blonde's head as there was a knock on her door.

"Come in" as soon as the words left her lips the doors to her office swung open, revealing two tired men standing before her. "Close the door behind you, this is private."

As she explained the situation to the two men their faces paled visibly. This was not something to be taken lightly – the Akatsuki were not to be meddled with, and if they'd even sent Itachi then this had to be important.

"What do you want us to do?" Yamato's voice broke a long silence, Tsunade had to think for a while before answering.

"I've already sent two teams, they are all highly capable chu- and jounins, I think it would be better if you remain here in case we receive any more information on this, they should be able to handle the situation.

"Are you sure about this, Tsunade? It wouldn't be at al troublesome to go check on them..." Jiraiya was the one to speak this time.

"No, I need you here, there are missions that need to be completed, and if they return I'll need you here, you don't know where they are or what's going on, so it would be foolish to go after them, their trail is getting old and soon you won't even be able to follow it" _I want to send them, really, but like I told them, the trails are probably even to weak by now, we'll just have to wait..._ Tsunade was having trouble convincing herself, but she knew what she said was true – All they could do now was wait. "You are dismissed."

When Tsunade spoke Yamato was the first to leave, he sensed that the two others in the room needed some time alone together.

"Tsunade-chan, how are you holding up? I can see how worried you are..." Jiraiya's warm voice was comforting to the blonde woman's ears and in the safety of his company tears began to flow from her eyes.

"I really can't stand it if he... If... I won't make it if Naruto leaves me, too..." Jiraiya tilted his childhood teammates face up with his hands, looking into her eyes as a melancholy smile graced his lips. _Thank you, Jiraiya_.

"I know, Tsu-chan, I know. Naruto'll be fine, he always is, you know that" With those reassuring words the white haired sannin put his strong arms around the woman he loved and held her close, letting her cry on his shoulder for as long as she needed. _If nothing more, well, at least I can be your support, Tsunade. I will always be her for you no matter what, I love you. _

_--_

The whole world seemed to be spinning at first, then everything slowly melted together and turned into random streaks of colour. White, black, orange, red and yellow surrounded the blonde as he fell, then a voice spoke.

"Welcome into my Tsukuyomi, Uzumaki Naruto, you will stay here for 4 days" As quickly as the voice had come, it was gone.

As Naruto opened his eyes he found himself in a strange world; it seemed so familiar to him, as if he had some connection to it, yet it was like nowhere he had ever been before. This whole, bizarre place looked like a large valley; two gigantic statues standing facing him were standing on either side of a tall waterfall, trees surrounded the clearing in which he was standing and in front of him was a lake which was formed by the waterfall._ No way, this can't be... _An eerie feeling found its way to the poor boys mind. _The valley of the end_, as the reason why this place seemed so familiar came to mind his fears became apparent when he shuddered involuntarily.

The blonde boy turned around as he heard a sound from behind, then a familiar voice sounded from somewhere within the trees.

"Uzumaki-kun, hello" The voice was so cold, distant, but at the same time there was something kind about it. Something so strangely familiar.

Naruto said nothing as he stood still, facing in the direction of the voice. As he was squinting through the trees trying to see who the voice belonged to he noticed something lying on the ground not far from where he was standing. _What is this place?_ _It's exactly like the valley of the end, but the colours here are so strange, this world... It seems like I'm in another dimension, a different reality from my world..._ The boy walked over to the object which lay barely five meters away from him and picked it up. Carefully, he trailed his battle-worn and rough skinned fingers across the scratches in the cold metal, slowly twisting the blue fabric it was stuck on around his hand. _Sasuke's head band... What's that doing here? I left that back in Konoha before this mission, how'd it get here? _

Naruto heard more leaves rustling, this time the sound seemed to come from somewhere closer to him. When the blonde boy turned his head nothing in the world could have prepared him for what he saw, because there, right in front of him, his black hair and pale skin like always, stood Sasuke.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Naruto and Masashi Kishimoto still does – Shock, isn't it?

**My random ****thoughts:** Chapter 7 up, enjoy ) I'm changing the rating for this to M just to be sure from now on.

Yay, we have a long weekend – until Tuesday – and I only have one mock-exam left, then I'm done for now! Bad thing is, it's math, and I'm not really sure I know half the stuff we're supposed to… I should really go read, but again I can't seem to focus on any school related things…

**Read and Review**, darlings It makes me happy when you do  (no, I will not stop nagging you about this, 'cause really, when I see I've gotten a new review I get so happy, I love it! Just say whatever you think about the story, don't think twice about leaving critics – constructive preferably - either – I feel like I need them, and I appreciate being told what I can do to get better )

And if you have any wishes for what should happen later, tell me! If I like them I might use your ideas in chapters to come

**Chapter 7**

Everything looked blurred, unfocused, as Sai's eyes opened slowly. The boy's eyelids fluttered as he slowly came too, his whole body shook as the burning pain from the wounds of the samehada made itself known. Breathing heavily, he tried to sit up, but he quickly sank back down as he didn't have the energy to stay there. _Everything hurts_. The black haired boy, who was usually pale, now looked whiter than new-fallen snow due to the blood loss. As his mind became clearer he realized where he was and flashes of what had happened appeared in his still clouded mind.

A loud crashing noise sounded somewhere to his right, the boy slowly, as to not make it hurt more than necessary, turned his head to see what was happening, wincing at the pain it caused him. As his eyes got accustomed to the dark, dusty cave, Sai caught a glimpse of Kakashi barely dodging a swing of the samehada, the large sword gracing the jounins right arm before slamming into the ground where the grey-haired male had just been standing, then his eyes slowly closed as he once again returned to the darkness.

--

"S-Sa… Sasuke?" Shock, terror, uncertainty, disbelief; those and so many more were the feelings that simultaneously spawned in Naruto's mind as he realized who it was standing there in front of him.

"Ah, I see you've regained your speech, Na-ru-to." The voice from earlier, which Naruto still could not recognize, sounded once more, this time it seemed to come from everywhere.

"Who… Are you?" _And what the fuck is going on here? Is this all just in my head?_ Naruto closed his eyes and rubbed them, hoping that when he opened them again Sasuke would be gone, but no. The boy was still standing here, his charcoal meeting the clear blue that looked so utterly confused.

"Me? I'm hurt, Naruto, do you not recognize my voice? My technique? You should at least recognize that…" Naruto was racking his brain for anything that might have a connection to the voice, but nothing came to mind.

As he looked at Sasuke, searching to find a clue as to what was going on, the boy suddenly disappeared. When he turned around to see if the Uchiha might have used a teleporting jutsu to move himself he was completely dumbfounded. Everything had changed; he was not even in the same place anymore. He found himself standing in the middle of something that looked like a desert, the ground dry and seemingly barren as there wasn't even a single sign of life. He blinked to make sure he wasn't going crazy, and as he opened his eyes the person he found to be standing in front of him was Itachi.

"Hello." The cold voice sounded like it could freeze Naruto where he stood. "Do you now realize what is going on, _dobe_? My brother was indeed right to call you that…" _Why is he talking about Sasuke, what has that got to do with anything._ Ever since the 'incident' Naruto had been unable to function when Sasuke's name was brought up in conversation, even just hearing it on stranger's lips as he walked past people having a conversation made him shiver.

"What the fuck is going on, Itachi?" Naruto was talking big, but really, he was horrified. He knew what the technique he was currently _in_ had done to Kakashi, so what could it do to him? Itachi, as observant as he was, had of course noticed how Naruto flinched at the mere mention of his brother, the older Uchiha plotting how to find out what exactly had happened between the two. "Answer me, you… You Uchiha!" Itachi glared at the blonde, the way the boy had pronounced his family name, he made it sound like an Insult. Now he was _really _going to get it.

"Didn't Kakashi tell you what this is like? Oh well, I'll give you the introduction" Itachi smiled maliciously. _This is bad. Really, really bad. _Naruto's mind was working so hard that had it been possible fume would be seeping out through his ears, what was the Uchiha going to do to him? "Well, you see, in this world I can control everything, what you see, what you feel, _who_ you see… Hell, I can even control time, and I will drive your mind so far into the realm of insanity that you will _never_ come back."

Naruto was now even more worried, and he had yet to find a way to get out of the mess he was in. "Mhm, and how do you suppose you'll do that, _Uchiha_?" Naruto spit the last word so angrily that if one could talk in venom the one he was talking to would be dead and gone even before the boy spoke.

"Well, how about we talk about my baby brother, huh?" Naruto froze. _No._ "Don't you think it would be nice to have a little chat about Sasuke?" The blonde shuddered just thinking about his childhood 'friend', he couldn't stand him any longer. It had been four years, and still his disgust towards the youngest Uchiha was so strong. The disgust, however, wasn't the worst by far, oh no, the fears that hunted his dreams and lay in the back of his mind every waking hour were so much worse. "Oh, so you do have issues with him, _Naru-chan, _well, let's talk then."

"No…" Naruto's voice was low, barely audible, as suddenly he found himself bound to a cross, his feet resting on a small plate mere centimeters above the ground, bound to the cross, his arms, too, bound to the wood. _What the hell is going on? How did I end up… Crucified? _

"Oh, we'll see about that, it won't be long until you beg me to stop, then you'll tell me…" Itachi's stoic features remained calm whilst he spoke, when he was done, however, a glint of malice passed over them, before they returned to normal. Suddenly, Naruto felt a sharp pain spreading out from his wrists and ankles as the ropes tightened, it felt as though they were so tight his arms and feet would fall off, but he wasn't that lucky.

"I will never br- Ow…" A low groan escaped Naruto's throat as he tried to speak, the pain taking its toll on his body. "You'll never break me, Itachi, you can't" _because I'm already broken. _

"Are you sure about that, demon? I'll start trying anyways." Out of nowhere a kunai appeared in Itachi's hand as he walked up to Naruto, then, slowly, he placed the sharp blade against Naruto's cheek and cut. Blood slowly trickled from the cut, running down Naruto's skin which was now burning with pain. The blonde gritted his teeth and stayed silent, this pain was nothing compared to the pain he felt inside.

"Since you're not making this very fun I guess I'll have to continue…" Itachi cut again, this time it was the blonde's arm that got a feel of the metal, and still no sound came from said blonde.

"You'll never make it," Naruto said in a dark voice, so unlike him. "If you only have four days there is no way you can hurt me like this… I may seem it to you, but I'm not that weak, Itachi."

"Oh, shall we make a bet of that, Uzumaki-kun?" Again and again the sharp blade met with skin, splitting it and tasting the blood which was now pouring, the wounds were getting deeper – but none were deep enough to kill the blonde.

When seven hours in the Mangekyo world had passed, still no response from the bleeding boy still hanging on his cross, Itachi spoke again.

"You were telling the truth, weren't you, boy? Well, what is it that is your weakness, then? I bet it's in there," Itachi poked Naruto in the side of the head, the boy still not saying a word, "behind those blue eyes somewhere…" Slowly, as he spoke, he trailed a finger across Naruto's face, tracing his features softly. Naruto froze up as the finger touched his skin, terrified. _He doesn't know, it won't happen again… It can't… _Naruto was desperately trying to convince himself that his thoughts were true as the Uchiha in front of him spoke yet again.

"Oh, so that's your deal, is it, Naruto-kun, you don't like being touched?" _Wait, how does he know? _A puzzled look came to Naruto's face, he hadn't said anything, how could the Uchiha possibly know?

"You're wondering how I know, and I'll tell you" Itachi touched his captive's sun kissed skin yet again, this time stroking his hand gently from Naruto's neck and down to the neckline of his t-shirt, at the same time he opened the blondes orange jacket and pulled it off, leaving it torn on the ground, the arms ripped to pieces. The blonde could do nothing, he was bound, and even if he wasn't he was paralyzed with fear, as he shook violently to the touch, memories better left forgotten appearing in his mind.

_ Flashback _

"_Take Naruto, and we'll take you in - don't, and we leave you two here to rot." Naruto thought he saw a hint of regret in the raven's eyes, lasting no more than a second at most, then Sasuke had forced himself on the blonde, pushing into him. _

_It hurt so much, the pain he was feeling reaching much deeper, hurting him more than he had ever been hurt before. He though he knew pain, though he knew what it meant to feel afraid, so afraid that he wished to die, but none of the things he had experienced earlier could possibly measure up to this. _

_It had only taken minutes, yet those minutes had been the longest in his life, feeling like eternities passing, as tears ran like rivers down his cheeks. Each time the raven had touched him, kissed him, pushed into him it had shattered his mind into even smaller shards, __eventually the pieces became so small that he could never be completely put together again. _

_Then Sasuke had come into him, __which had spread the pieces of his mind even further apart. As he pulled out of the blonde, the raven had leant closer to him, whispering softly into his ear, "Sorry Naruto, but I had to. You know I have to kill him, right", that was the last thing Naruto could recall before he fell into the warm, kind darkness that awaited him, protected him._

_ Flashback over _

"Please tell me, _Naruto-kun_," when he spoke the blonde's name this time, Itachi's voice was full of despise, he really couldn't stand the boy. "What is it that scared you so?" Itachi's cold voice brought Naruto back to the living as his whole body shook when his thoughts were broken. He smiled, half thankful to the man in front of him.

"I will never tell you, Itachi, or any other person, for that matter." _I did not even mean to tell the only person who knows, Jiraiya, he heard me talking in my sleep..._ "My Fears, my memories, they are mine and mine alone."

"Oh, I suppose I'll just have to continue this little game then, until you're so broken that you wish to die" Itachi's lips twitched into another one of those malicious grins which seemed to fit him so perfectly as he slowly cut open the seams of Naruto's black t-shirt, placing his hand to the left on the boy's upper torso, right where he knew his heart would be.

"N-no, p-p-please..." It was all becoming too much for Naruto as the calloused hand slid down across it's chest and came to a halt on his lower abdomen, stopping right above where his pants started. "Please..." The boy's voice was but a whisper as he shivered from fear at the touch; he was terrified as his mind again filled up with memories of _that_ night.

"I will stop, _demon_, but only if you tell me where these fears of yours come from."

"Never" The resolution in his voice shone through, catching Itachi off guard.

"Baka! Well, if you don't want to tell me, then I guess Kakashi or Sai will have to do, I need to have a little fun, you know" Itachi's evil grin became even bigger, so highly out of character for the man, as his plan was set to action. Naruto would never let anyone else get hurt, he knew, and his plan this time was foolproof.

"NO! Don't you dare touch them! I'll fucking ki..." Silence. Itachi's hand moved further down, crawling underneath the waistband of Naruto's big, orange pants, pulling at the boy's boxers. Shivers went down the blondes spine as fear spiked his mind, his whole body seemed to fail him as words would not even sound when they left his lips.

"I know what your fears are already, Uzumaki, I just want to know what made them..." another pull at the boy's boxers, the blondes face paling visibly, "this horrible for you to endure."

"If I tell you, will you leave Sai and Kakashi be?"

"Yes, _of course_" Itachi lied, he was still going to kill those two no matter what, and Naruto's eyes calmed. _Damn, this kid is so naive, really, he'd actually believe that? _Itachi could not help but wonder if the boy really was as stupid as he seemed of if he just hid his smarts really well.

"Sasuke." The one word filled the air, it sounded so strange as it left Naruto's lips, the blonde saying it with a mix of affection and every emotion ranging from disgust to hate. _Are you proud of him, Itachi, proud that he can reduce people to __**this**__?_

unexpectedly, a familiar laughter sounded, and as Naruto looked up – he had been staring at the ground, not able to look into sharingan eyes – the man in front of him was no longer Itachi, no, standing before him for the second time in this strange place was Sasuke. The only difference was that this time Naruto himself was only half dressed and tied to a cross.

--

_that was close, he almost got me this time... I'm all out of energy, my chackra's this low – if the backup doesn't get here within 20 minutes I'm really going to die. And then there's Naruto... _Another swing of his opponent's large weapon brought him out of his thoughts, he did not want to get hit twice within a minute. (A/N: In 'Itachi land' it's only been a second, that's why we're back to Sai/Kakashi/Kisame right after we left them)

"Getting tired, Kakashi? I didn't think you were this weak" The mist-nin was also tiring, but his chakra reserves were higher to begin with, his words echoed off the walls, repeating themselves to Kakashi, _When I get home I really gotta train, I'm in bad shape._

"Sure, but I'm not stopping till you're gone anyways, you're a traitor to your village, and I won't forgive that kind of treason" Kakashi knew that he, in reality, if the battle lasted for much longer stood no chance, but there was a slight chance backup would arrive soon, and if the odds were on his sight he ought to make it. _I'm ok, but what about Naruto, what's Itachi doing to him? Please let him be ok..._ Yet another time the samehada lashed out against the Konoha shinobi, shaking him back to reality as he barely had time to jump out of its way.

--

"We're there in five minutes, there are two enemies as you know, one of them seems to be standing still, the other is fighting Kakashi. Sai's unconscious" Neji's voice echoed of the walls as he spoke, everyone looked wonderingly at him as Sakura voiced the question on everyone's mind.

"What about Naruto?" The pink haired girl was worried sick, if anything really did happen to any of her teammates she didn't know what she'd do.

"He's..." Neji was unsure of how to tell his comrades what was really going on – for once the Hyuuga was unsure of what words to choose – what he'd seen was alarming, Itachi was holding Naruto, the blondes limbs dangling as if he was unconscious, it almost seemed as though the blonde was... _Dead, he can't be, it's Naruto. He survives everything... _Neji, who'd only quickly looked at the figures in the room they were heading too, had failed to see that Naruto still held a faint pulse and was breathing. Surprising everyone, the younger of the two Hyuuga's chose that moment to speak.

"N-Naruto-kun is in a b-bad position, -Uchiha Itachi is... Uhm," Hinata twiddled her fingers, she hated speaking out loud, especially when there were many people around, but she had to say this, " holding him up, he seems to be unconscious, but he's alive."

"Well, what're we waiting for, let's go save the day, eh?" Akamaru barked in agreement to his owner's statement, Kiba ushering the Hyuuga's further though the tunnels as the others followed, they'd be there soon, and hopefully it wouldn't be too late.

--

-Konoha-

Jiraiya was nervous, something he simply never was, as he paced Tsunade's office, the blonde sitting silently at her desk. The silence in this room is so thick in the air it could probably choke a person, she thought, wanting to speak but at a lack of words.

"How long is it since backup left and when's last you heard from them?" Jiraiya was the one to break the silence, the white haired toad sage's voice much more serious than it was usually.

Tsunade remained silent, thinking. How long _had_ it been? She counted all the hours of waiting backwards in her head, finally finding what she wanted to know. "It's been 15 since they left, 13 since last we heard from them. Damn..." Tsunade pounded her fist into the desk so hard the whole piece of furniture shook. _Naruto, if you don't get back here alive I will hund down your ghost and torture you for eternity, so don't you dare leave me, boy!_ The gambler she was, Tsunade would put all her money on the return of all her shinobi alive, but she knew she had bad luck at gambling, so if she did then someone would probably not get home alive.

"Sou ka? That long, huh? So it'll likely be at least another 15 hours before they're home..." Thinking, Jiraiya walked over to one of the chairs situated in the corner of the hokage's office, taking a seat. He was exhausted from worrying, when he heard the news he'd just come back from a long mission, but he wouldn't be able to rest until the three shinobi teams were back.

"Yes, something like that" As Tsunade looked at her teammate from her genin days she noticed that he'd completely spaced out, He must be really worried about that boy to, they're so close, almost like he and Minato were... She thought of those happy days when everything was still good, as she, too, drifted off into dreamland.

Meanwhile, another place in Konoha, one brown haired, tan-skinned chunin academy teacher was getting worried. Firstly, Naruto's one night mission had obviously gone past it's time limits, the blonde hat yet to return even at this hour, and two extra teams had been sent out in their direction. How did Umino Iruka, a simple chunin, know all this? Naruto had told him about the mission before he left, the morning after the blonde got back Iruka was supposed to treat him to a meal at Ichiraku's, and secondly several of their daily aids and teachers had been sent out on an emergency mission. Something wasn't right, he knew it.

_Naruto, you better not have done something stupid or else..._ Iruka was a worrywart and a real mother-hen, he'd be the first to admit, but the blonde was just like a little brother to him, and he was all he had left. If anything happened to that boy he'd – well, that was exactly his point, he didn't know what he'd do.

--

In total two days had passed within the strange and horrible world of the Sharingan, days of sheer hell for Naruto. When Itachi was still there it hadn't been so bad, but then somehow, he'd brought about Sasuke – just the name made Naruto feel sick.

For the past 36 hours Sasuke had been there with him. He was touching the blonde, kissing his tan skin which was paling due to fear and the blood loss from the cuts he'd received earlier. Nothing serious had happened yet, but Sasuke's actions still scared Naruto so much he could not even speak; the ravens thin fingers were trailing over every inch of his now completely exposed body – _every_ inch – and his mouth and tongue had licked, nipped, bit and kissed Naruto pretty much everywhere but _there. _

"Time seems to pass slow, don't you think, Naruto? Why don't we have some _real_ fun to make it go by?" The Uchiha prodigy, looked into vapid, blue eyes, it almost seemed as if the blonde had given up, resigned himself to his fate already.

The wan, crucified boy didn't speak, he had no words. His body language was languid as he didn't even bother to protest, hanging limply on the wooden cross in the middle of nowhere. In any case, what could he do, if he moved his teammates would die, something which he would not allow. No, then it was better for him to take the hit, he was so broken from before, it couldn't get any worse, could it?

Slowly, firmly, the black haired boy knelt directly in front of Naruto, when he sat on his knew his head was at level with Naruto's hips. Pale hand's found their way to the skin on Naruto's lower abdomen before they moved even further down, taking a hold of him.

Naruto closed his eyes, his body making tremulous motions as he felt Sasuke's hot breath against his own, cold skin. Suddenly, all his motions ceased as he was engulfed by heat, knowing what was happened, but he didn't dare open his eyes, didn't want to face reality, as his frangible mind threatened to shatter even further.

The illusion that was Sasuke pulled back and took a look at the crucified Jinchuuriki before him, his hand's stroking the boy's member almost gently, then he took him in again. Naruto did not want to feel, he couldn't stand this, what was happening was all too much, and though he might have made it before he wasn't sure that he'd be able to go on after this. The blonde's heart was racing out of fear, his body trembling in horror, no longer was he positive that he would be able to dissimulate his problems, hide them from the world, he wasn't even sure if he'd ever be able to live again.

Time and time again Sasuke's mouth engulfed him, Naruto's body moving in response, his member hardening from instinct however much Naruto tried to deny it. Even though he was terrified, his mind brought to the breaking point, his treacherous body had to go with the flow of movements and emotions. _If there is a god somewhere out there it really must hate me, even death would be better than this…_

When he was about to come Sasuke backed away again, this time rising to his feet. He slowly got up and started untying the ropes around Naruto's ankles, then around his wrists. When he was done he pulled the boy down from the cross and pushed him down on the ground harshly. "This had all been fun, but it was just the beginning, dobe. Now it's time to get serious" Naruto wished he could die as Sasuke's lips twitched into a diabolic smile.

The Uchiha, who had until now kept his clothes on, undressed quickly, throwing the garments he'd worn just a second earlier on the dusty ground – which was no longer dusty ground, it had now, somehow, turned into a floor, and the blonde himself was lying on a large, soft bed. _This is just an illusion, nothing that happens here is for real…_ The blonde tried to convince himself that nothing was really happening to him, that in reality he was back in that cave with Kakashi and Sai, but he just couldn't. A whimper escaped his pale lips as some of the cuts on his arms reopened when Sasuke grabbed his arms, pinning them over his head.

The blonde's mind had tried to shield him, protect him but not letting him see, but now he realized what was about to happen. "N-no… P-p-please don't… Sasuke, don't d-do t-this, please…" His prayers weren't heard, the raven effectively getting atop the blonde, wrapping his legs around Naruto's waist and roughly grinding their crotches together.

Naruto wished himself far, far away, but to no avail as the youngest Uchiha's lips locked onto his with bruising force. The blonde tried to remain as calm as possible through it all, but of course his deceitful body chose that moment to disobey him, a moan forcing his lips to open, the raven's tongue immediately pushing into his mouth, ravaging his wet orifice and forcing Naruto's tongue into submission. He wanted to fight back, to do something, anything to make the pain stop, but he couldn't. All he could do was retread into his own mind, his sanctuary, where he sat in front of the large fox's cage like a small foundling; shaking and crying inconsolably. He was safe here, he thought, until he was ripped away from his refuge by excruciating pain shooting through his body from the base of his spine.

Screaming, Naruto opened his blue eyes only to find them inches away from charcoal as Sasuke's lips locked onto his own to quiet him. Over and over the raven pushed into Naruto, the damage he dealt to the blonde's mind was incomprehensible even to said blonde as the remains of his equilibrium were shattered into a million pieces as Sasuke bit down on his lower lip hard, reducing him to a whimpering, pleading childe before he released inside of the blonde.

Then he was back in the desert. He stood there, fully clothed and clean, only his cuts remained, when Itachi appeared in front of him.

"I believe I have succeeded, Uzumaki-kun, don't you?" Itachi couldn't believe the effects of his machination, this was even better than he thought. Naruto fell to the ground screaming, a scream which was choked by a sob, turning into whimper as the boys sat on the ground shaking.

"Now I will leave you here for 24 hours all by yourself to give you some… time to think" Itachi grinned, he would force the blonde to face reality by doing this, breaking him even further if that was possible. When this was done they would definitely have no problem bringing Naruto and then extracting the bijuu inside him. It was a perfect plan.

--

"We're here" Neji's voice was as calm as always, although he'd changed his way of thinking after facing Naruto in the chunin-exams he was still a strong believer of fate, and he believed that that very fate was on their side today.

"Well, what're we waiting for, let's go in!" Kiba was about to storm the cave when Shikamaru's hand on the collar of his jacked stopped him.

"No. I'll take a look then we'll make a plan, we're off to a better start that way" As lazy as he was, everyone had to admit that Shikamaru was the smartes of them all, and so the dog-nin walked back to his previous spot and sat down.

"Come on, Kiba, cheer up. We're just making a little plan, then we'll save the day, ok?" TenTen, who'd been remarkably quiet the whole trip, only speaking on a few occasions, put a hand on his shoulder for encouragement.

"Y-yes, Kiba-kun, TenTen-chan is right, we'll be going in a-any moment." _Damn, Hinata-chan is so cute… How come she's the only person I can't seem to be able to flirt with? KIBA! Get your head back to the mission you idiot, think about that later._ When he finished his trail of though Kiba nodded, then stood up.

"So, what's the plan, then, brainy boy?" Shikamaru, who'd been studying the situation closely, turned to face his group.

"It's kinda bad in there, Sai's knocked out and Kakashi's barely holding on, Kisame is too strong for even him. And something's up with Naruto, Itachi is standing still, holding him, he's probably got him trapped in a genjutsu or something, and since they're meant to bring him to the Akatsuki he had to take care of him…" _Either that or it's the Mangekyo sharingan. _Shikamaru and Gai both thought of the worse possibility, they were the only ones who knew of the Mangekyo and neither found it necessary to scare their teams unnecessarily.

"Well, it will be not problem, such trivial matters shall not stop our power of youth!" Lee was doing the 'nice guy pose', everyone but guy twitching at the sight – it wasn't at all pretty. Sakura, after recuperating from the sight of the green, spandex clad boy giving a thumbs up with stars shooting out around him, was the next to speak.

"What's the plan?" She was angry, ready to fight, the two Akatsuki were going to get it real bad.

"Ok, listen up, Neji, Lee, Gai, Kiba, Tenten and me will enter first, Sakura and Hinata, you'll be _our_ backup since you're both medic nins, if anything happens we need you to be ready, clear?" Shikamaru looked around the group, everyone nodding in agreement. Sakura was slightly unhappy that she wouldn't be able to fight, but she understood Shikamaru's point. "I'll send in my shadow to bind Kisame first, he won't see it coming if I do it from here, and then you will all enter. I won't be able to hold it for too long, so team Gai, which means you – the chunin pointed to where Lee, Neji and Gai were standing – for now will take him on."

"EY, Shikamaru, what'll we be doing in the meanwhile?" Kiba, who was getting impatient, moved his arms in a fashion suggesting he was talking about Shikamaru, Akamaru and himself.

"**Jamakusai" Shikamaru muttered his signature word before speaking continuing on with his plan. "We will wait till team Gai is in there, then I'll dispel my technique and we'll enter. We'll be taking on Itachi" Shikamaru paused, turning around to face Neji. "Neji, when we enter the fight you're joining our team, we'll need you." **

**"Let's go!" Akamaru barked along with his owner to signify that he, too, was ready. **

**"Ok then." Shikamaru positioned himself in the entrance to the cave, performing the rat symbol as he spoke "**Kagemane no Jutsu." A shadow stretched across the cave floor, unbeknownst to Kisame, getting closer and closer to its pray. Kakashi, who was busy dodging suddenly caught a glimpse of an abnormal shadow on the floor, they had finally arrived.

Kisame froze. He had no idea what was going on, but all of a sudden he felt his head moving, he tried to fight it but to no avail, as it faced the cave entrance.

"Hello, Kisame, up for a fight?" Shikamaru grinned, usually this was something he'd describe as troublesome, but he had a feeling this fight could get interesting.

"Brat, what are you doing? What is this?" Four ninja stormed onto the battlefield, arriving at Kakashi's side within seconds, as Shikamaru spoke.

"Oh this? It's my shadow imitation technique, basically we are bound by my shadow, and now you have to mirror all my movements." To make his point clear the shadow controlling nin took a few steps back and forth, then he bowed down.

"Damn you!" Kisame reached to say no more as five shinobi circled him closer and closer, then started lashing out at him. He tried regaining control, only able to make the slightest bit of resistance. The situation went on for about 10 minutes, by when Kisame was badly beaten, then Shikamaru had to break the jutsu.

"Let's go, Kiba!" The two boys quickly entered the cave, running towards Itachi just in time to see the S-class missing-nin throwing Naruto into one of the cave walls so hard they heard a snap as if something broke, then he turned towards them. He quickly cast a glance at his partner to see if he was doing any better than himself – he couldn't fight in the shape he was in, the Mangekyo had worn him out, and his eyes were bleeding – only to find that the blue skinned male was struggling, being attacked form four angles in random order.

"Kisame!" Itachi succeeded in getting his partners attention. "We're aborting the mission."

As the three Konoha shinobi facing Itachi prepared to strike Kisame managed to get away from his attackers, appearing at his partner's side just before the three shinobi got there, the two disappearing in a cloud of smoke as the three ninja who had been rushing against them toppled over in a pile on the ground.

"It's over." Shikamaru was mumbling to himself, untangling from the mess that was him, Kiba and Neji, happy the fight had gone well, and the two Akatsuki leaving had surely made the matter less troublesome. "Hinata, Sakura, get out here!" Just as he had called for the two medical experts Kakashi collapsed to the ground, he was completely drained of any form for energy _or_ chakra.

"Kakashi, are you alright?" Sakura yelled as she and Hinata emerged from the shadows, Hinata immediately finding her way to Sai whilst Sakura ran to her ex-sensei.

"Hai, hai, I've got a little cut, other than that I'm just exhausted…" Kakashi's eyelids drooped as he spoke, he was so tired he was about to fall asleep right there and then. "How's Sai? And Naruto?!" A sudden panic struck his voice as he remembered about the blonde. _You better not be dead, Naruto._

"Kami… Where's Naruto?" Sakura shouted, spotting him in the back of the cave. The kunoichi hurried over to her teammate, finding that he didn't appear to be hurt in any way. Fear struck her heart as she noticed his chest didn't seem to be rising and falling like it should and she immediately bent down to check his vitals.

The time that passed seemed to go by as slow as honey, but then she detected a pulse in the blonde. It was dangerously low just like his breathing, but it was there. What was puzzling her wasn't that the boy was unconscious, but why he was in such a bad state with no visible wounds.

"He doesn't have _any_ external wounds what so ever, but he's barely breathing and his pulse is really low, can anyone tell me what's happened in here?" Kakashi stood up clumsily, walking over to Sakura and the unconscious blonde, worry evident in his visible eye.

"The Mangekyo Sharingan, Itachi's special technique. You remember how, after Itachi and Kisame came to Konoha I had to stay in the hospital for a while just because I looked him in the eye?" Kakashi didn't feel like telling the girl the specifics of the technique, at least not now. "He used that same technique on Naruto… We gotta get back to Konoha quick."

Once more the silver haired jounin collapsed, this time Gai was there to catch his friend and rival, positioning the male on his back so he could carry him easily. "Kakashi-san is right, we have to hurry back to Konoha so we can rekindle both Naruto's and Sai's flames of youth" within Gai's eyes small flames appeared as Sakura sweatdropped. She was _so _thankful she wasn't on their team.

Once again remembering her second teammate she called out to Hinata. "How's Sai doing?"

"Ano… He's f-fine, but he's got a cut that's b-bleeding – it almost looks as if his c-clothes and skin have been just torn up here on his arm. I-I'll heal it quick, then we can leave." As soon as Hinata finished speaking a green light appeared around her hand and she gently led it over Sai's ruptured skin, the wound closing slowly.

With Kakashi on Gai's back, Sai slumped over Akamaru's back and Neji carrying Naruto the now 11 shinobi were headed home. Finally.

--

Naruto was wading around the ankle deep, dark water covering the floors in the sewer like corridors that were his mind, eventually arriving in front of a large cage. Around the cage the water seemed to stop, the floor was dry in the 10 meter radius out from the gigantic bars that kept the demon inside it trapped.

"Kit?" The colossal fox turned to look out thought the bars as it heard steps approaching. What it saw was Naruto sitting on the ground, shaking violently, pulling at his hair so hard parts of it fell out. The boy was crying loudly, it was truly heart-breaking to listen to the choked sobs of the child – for that was what Naruto really was, a boy who had been forced to grow up too fast because of things done to him by none other than his former best friend – and after what had happened within the Mangekyo world the almighty Kyuubi no Kitsune wasn't so sure that it's host would ever be able to return to his world again.

Carefully, the fox slid a tail out thought the bars and placed it around Naruto like a nest, at first the boy flinched, but he trusted the fox – they had a strange kind of bond, and Naruto knew that the fox would not hurt him when he was still it's host since if he died it did too – and accepted the warmth of the tail that was encircling him, crying himself to sleep and to another nightmare.

--

Damn, that was a long chapter, the longest I've written so far anyways. 12 pages if you don't count the disclaimer… This was really challenging for me to write, but I'm quite happy with it…

Tell me what you think please You already know that, but here's a reminder at the bottom, so please rewiev!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I totally own Naruto… No, now I'm lying, I don't – Masashi Kishimoto still does, luckily I suppose, if I did there would be much more macabre things happening in that manga and something would SO be happening between Naruto and Kakashi.

**Random Talk:** I reread my last chapter just now, and I'm sorry about all the spelling mistakes and stuff, I write these things in the middle of the night when I'm actually tired – but that's when the ideas come, so I really don't feel like reading it over, and I noticed that I write 'd' instead of 't' at the end of many words and such – it may have something with how you'd say the word in Norwegian or something, I think… Anyways, I'll reread this to make it better for all of you to read x)

**Review** please!

Thank you so much to those of you who have, you're all so kind )

Enjoy!

**Chapter ****8**

Tsunade was sitting at her desk, head resting in her hands as she tried to get some rest – it was early morning and the blonde hadn't slept all night, she had just sat up waiting in case the two teams returned along with Kakashi, Sai and _Naruto_. Jiraiya was still sitting in the same chair in the corner as he had been close to 20 hours ago, he'd only fallen into a light state of sleep recently, the mission he'd just returned from taking its toll on his body. Suddenly the door to the Hokage's office slammed open, alerting both the sannin in the room, as Kotetsu stepped inside, a small cloud of grey smoke following him.

"They've retuned, Hokage-sama. They just entered the gates and are headed for the hospital right at this moment. None of them seem too badly wounded, Sai has quite a cut on his arm and Kakashi has a smaller one, but other than that there weren't really any external injuries, all three are unconscious currently, but Kakashi has been been awake for short periods when they were travelling. You should come take a look, though… There's something wrong with Naruto even if you can't see it, his vitals are all at their lowest for him to survive, that boy may not live long…" The nin stopped speaking seeing how Tsunades expression changed from happiness to fear to worry with a slight hint of confusion and anger.

"I see, I'll leave now. Please return to your duty immediately, thank you for warning me, Kotetsu." As the spiky-haired, noseband sporting ninja left in the same puff of smoke as he had come Tsunade walked over to Jiraiya, nudging his shoulder gently.

"'Raiya," that was the nickname she'd had on him since they were little, and she was the only one allowed to call him by it, "They're back. I'll be going to the hospital, are you coming or will you stay here and sleep, then come by later?" It wasn't even a question as Jiraiya got to his feet, ready to leave.

"Of course I'm going, what'd you think, Tsunade?" He smiled; he couldn't help but feel happy and relieved that the teams had returned. The two shinobi decided to take the short walk to the hospital instead of using teleporting jutsu, it wasn't that far and no-one had any life threatening injuries, at least not on the outside.

-

As soon as the two teams had arrived in Konoha they'd sent their wounded straight to the hospital, meaning that Gai with Kakshi, Neji with Naruto and Kiba, Akamaru and Sai had gone there immediately, the rest would catch up to them later after filling out mission reports and such.

As Neji handed over the younger boy to one of the doctors he couldn't help but think how thin Naruto actually was, he could practically feel the blond's ribs cutting into his skin as he carried him, the boy was also paler than he'd been when they were younger. The Hyuuga prodigy wondered what was happening with the blond, and he was sure not all of it was to blame on his abduction and this mission, there had to be something more.

The three shinobi that had been brought back were taken in different directions by the nurses, Kakashi was brought to a room where he could rest after the 'small' cut on his arm was healed, he had collapsed from exhaustion and overuse of the sharingan, nothing more. Sai was being healed as they took him away, the wound on his shoulder hadn't completely stopped bleeding, but it was merely trickling, Hinata had managed to stop most of it with her jutsu, she was a talented medic-nin. Then there was Naruto; no-one knew what was wrong with the teen, he looked fine, no significant external injuries and when they checked there didn't seem to be any internal either, it was unlike anything they'd seen for the boy to be in a state like he was when he had no serious injuries, but his vitals were all at their bare minimums, he was in a comatose state and he didn't seem to be waking up any time soon.

Just when they were about to take Naruto to a room where he could rest – they could do nothing more for the child not knowing what had caused his state – Tsunade and Jiraiya arrived, both their eyes immediately falling on the blonde boy lying on a stretcher right before them.

"How is he? What's his state?" Tsunades voiced reached the medics ears before they'd even noticed her arrival, one of the doctors answered on instinct.

"He had no wounds either external nor internal from this mission so far as we can tell, only some bruises and scratches which we gather are from, well, his being a shinobi, but his vitals as so low that he won't live long if it continues that way, he's barely breathing, his heart-rate is far too low for his good… We don't know what caused this, so we can't really do much for him but let him rest. There was one thing though, he had scars and more recent cut's going all the way up both his arms, it seems he's hurting himself…" The man focused his attention back at Naruto, trying to avoid the gaze the hokage was sending his way – he wanted to live.

_Naruto, hurting himself? Why?_ Well, this was not the time to think about that, they first had to figure out what was wrong with the blonde, then she could start worrying about his self—mutilation. Still, Tsunade thought, how could she not have noticed? She knew how far down the blonde had been ever since he came back, or, she though she knew, but she wasn't so sure any more… "Jiraiya, could you summon one of your toads and get it to find Nara Shikamaru for me? He was the team leader, so he might know what caused Naruto's strange state, and I need to know."

"Hai" Jiraiya mumbled as he bit his thumb drawing blood, then summoned one of the smaller toads, telling it what to do.

"Sure," it said in reply before it left in search of Shikamaru.

Jiraiya couldn't help but frown as he heard what the medic said about the scars on Naruto's arms, he should have known, should have been there for the teen. Guilt was slowly creeping up on the sannin, he could have helped him, he knew about the kid's issues, what had happened to him, why hadn't he been there for him? _Naruto, I'm sorry… But kid, you better not die, you have no idea how many people that would have an impact on. You may think that no one cares for you, but that is not the truth – you have plenty of friends who care for you… I know that you've been through a lot, kid, more than most would be able to live through, but you can make it. _Jiraiya was seriously worried about the teen this time, he'd seen him beat and bloody many times before, he'd seen him being taken over by the Kyuubi, too, but nothing had been like this. This time it was serious, and there was a dark thought looming in the back of his mind as to what might have caused it. One thing was for sure, Itachi had to be the one at blame.

--

Rubbing his eyes, slowly stretching his arms out Naruto came too, his could still feel the tear-tracks down his cheeks and his eyes were sore, as was hit throat. The darkness and the large, soft tail surrounding him felt safe, as if they were the only things keeping the remaining bits and pieces of his sanity more or less intact. As he opened his eyes he looked straight into large, slit, red ones, he was not afraid – Kyuubi didn't scare him, it didn't hate him for _what_ he was, it didn't try to hurt him, no, the fox was kind, always there to support him, help him and comfort him – it made him feel safe. The boy continued looking into its eyes as the fox spoke in its growling animalistic, but yet kind and loving way.

"You're awake, kit, what do you want to do?" The fox's voice was mild, it felt soothing to the ears of the blonde shinobi who was now standing in front of the cage.

As memories of what had happened in that Sharingan world - what Itachi and _Sasuke_ had done to him – returned, Naruto cringed, a choked sob escaping the broken boy's lips. He didn't care; there was no one here to hurt him, only _his_ demon, which he knew to be on his side.

"I… Want to forget… I want to forget everything, and I want to stay here… I-I can't go back, at l-least not yet…" The blonde looked away as more tears streaked his cheeks, it was all too painful to even think about.

"I'm sorry, kit, I can't make you forget, but you can stay here for some time to calm down, how about that, little one?" The fox's tail once again encircled the teen, this time lifting him up and rocking him gently to sleep. The fox may be the demon overlord, but it still had to protect its host, or it, too, would go under.

Quiet sobs escaped Naruto's throat as he slept, nightmares were haunting him even when he hid in his own mind. Would there be no end to his misery? Why did these things happen to him, and seemingly him only? He just wanted to forget so bad, his head felt like it was about implode, pounding heavily as he attempted to escape when the shadows in his dreams approached him threateningly, then they reached him…

--

"Hokage-sama" Shikamaru was standing in the doorway to Naruto's room, when he'd arrived at the hospital he'd been immediately directed to the blonde's room by Jiraiya, getting there as fast as he could. "You requested me here, what is it?" The boy sighed, this was bound to be troublesome…

"Naruto is in a comatose state, however he has no injuries either external or internal… You were the leader for the backup and retrieval mission, do you have a fucking clue as to what might have caused it?" Tsunade didn't mean to sound quite as angry as she figured she did, but the blonde sannin couldn't help it, she was so damn worried for the blonde lying near-dead on the bed before them.

"Well, I can't say for sure, but when we were arriving he was in Itachi's arms, unconscious, and when Itachi and Kisame left Itachi's eyes were bleeding, so if there was any logic to the situation Itachi used the Mangekyo based on various strategic reasons he could have for doing so…" Shikamaru could not finish speaking before the next question came.

"How long do you think Itachi held him in the Sharingan world, our time?" Tsunade knew Shikamaru had to know about the technique, and therefore also how it worked, he was the smartest shinobi of his generation, and probably one of the smartest in Konoha after all.

_Jamakuzai, how should I know…? _"I do not know, Hokage-sama, there was no way of telling," _do I dare to ask her about his state? She seems in a bad mood, not surprisingly, but I want to know how he's doing… It's a chance I'm willing to take. _Deciding, in the end, on asking Tsunade about Naruto's state Shikamaru prepared himself for a punishment that never came.

"He's alive, that's really all I can say. If Itachi used the sharingan, well, it will have taken a toll on his body which is probably quite bad, when he used it on Kakashi he had to stay in bed for a week… What's worse, though, is that there is no way we can know the effects on his mind, that's what concerns me more… If you were wondering for the others Kakashi is just plain exhausted, he used pretty much all his chakra, and Sai will be fine, he's out from the blood-loss, but the medic-nins have fixed him up and he'll be ok in no time."

"Arigato, Hokage-sama" with that Shikamaru performed some simple hand signs and disappeared.

_So it's what I thought… That damn fucking Uchiha, can't he just stick to torturing his little brother…?_ Tsunade knew, now, what the toll on Naruto's body would most likely be like, but what worried her more were the effects that whatever Itachi had done to mess with the teen's mind could be. She hated the eldest Uchiha with all the fibers of her being. Though she knew that it was wrong of her to think that way she couldn't help but wish that Sasuke would just hurry up and kill him or get killed, but it wouldn't be that easy, it was practically an impossibility, that only happened in movies and books…

Now that she knew what was the matter with the blonde, she had to do something to clear her head, in any case there was nothing she could do at the moment and the boy wouldn't be waking up before 4 days at the very earliest – he may have quick healing powers because of the Kyuubi, but even that had to have it's limits.

--

A tired and confused Kakashi woke up feeling like someone had just dropped a ton of bricks on him, his whole body was sore and he barely had enough energy to lift an arm, but his mind was filled to the brim with thoughts of a certain boy.

_I wonder how he is, where he is… He better be alive, still…_ The jounin who was lying flat in his bed simply because he could not move, felt like his head would either explode or implode, he wasn't sure which was worst since he'd never experienced either, as it filled to the brim with only thoughts of his blonde student.

_What's wrong with me?_ Kakashi was trying his hardest to think of other things, but somehow his thoughts always returned to the blonde boy, and especially the conversation they'd had only days before the fateful mission. He'd tried to talk to the blonde, which had only resulted in making the blonde snap, yelling at him then walking off. He'd been unable to do anything then, to shocked in the blonde's sudden change of character, or maybe it wasn't so sudden after all. It had been little over four years since he had returned to Konoha carrying a bloody, close-to-dead Naruto in his arms after the boy's battle with Sasuke at the valley of the end. Everything had started then, Naruto had not any longer been himself, and when he returned from his training with Jiraiya that fact was made even more obvious. It seemed as if the blonde had lost his spark, his energy… His will to live. No longer did he pull pranks, he hardly ever talked to people unless he had to, he could stay in his apartment for days on end without even as much as peeking out the window if he didn't have any missions – but at the same time he acted like his normal self, too, at least when he was around his so called friends… _Why can't I get him out of my mind?_

As the jounin lay in his hospital bed he realized something, over time he'd come to care for the blonde greatly, more so than he ever had for the other two members of his team. He'd noticed the change in the blonde himself, sure, but he'd assumed it was the blonde growing up, but when Tsunade and Tenzo had talked to him he'd realized there might be more behind the changes in the blonde than just that. When he'd talked to the teen and he had snapped Kakashi had no idea what happened, but he'd come to the realization than he cared deeply for the younger male, words that he'd only said and meant in such a way – not as in a team relation, but in a personal way – to so few people he could count them on one hand. 'Trust me' he'd said, and he meant it. He wanted the boy to tell him what was wrong, he wanted to help, but there was seemingly nothing he could do as the blond kept pushing him away. _I don't even know what I'm feeling towards him anymore, but I know that it's greater than just the feeling a teacher should have for his student, a jounin for his subordinate… _

He was exhausted, his body tired out, and soon he fell back asleep, still images of the blonde teen were dancing across his mind, thoughts of the boy were the only thoughts in his head.

--

Sakura was sitting on a bench outside the Hokage tower, she was deep in thought when a green-clad, bowl cut sporting boy came to sit beside her.

"Sakura, how are you doing?" she looked up, surprised to see her friend sitting next to her on the bench, she'd been too engrossed in her own world to realize someone had arrived.

"Ah, Lee… Well, I suppose I'm fine, really, I'm just worried about Naruto, and Sai, and Kakashi..." the pink haired Kunoichi's voice trailed off as she again returned to her thoughts, images of her teammates flooding her mind, _It's all my fault._

"Ne, Sakura-chan, they'll be fine, you know them. Sai and Kakashi should be out of there in no-time, and Naruto, too, you know he always bounces back from things like nothing's happened. His spirit of youth is stronger than even Gai-sensei's and my own, I'm almost sad but also proud to say." Lee had had a short moment of seriousness, but then he returned to himself talking of the power of youth and all that strange stuff he and Gai always went on about. He was giving her the nice guy pose, his teeth so white they practically blinded her if she looked at them.

"Hai, they will, won't they…?" She was worried, but Lee was right, wasn't he, they already knew the state of the two others, and Naruto always made it through, his spirit really seemed to be unbreakable. _They have too…_

--

Naruto woke with a scream, a heartbreaking scream that would haunt any person for the rest of their life if they heard it. The boy's voice was filled with fear, his eyes wide in terror, as the great tale that was around him made light movements to stroke him, comfort him.

As the blonde slowly came to his senses he realized again where he was, still inside the darkness of his mind, standing there with his beast.

"Naruto, how are you?" The fox knew, for the most part, how Naruto felt, but it would still ask.

"I'm… I don't… I-I feel dead, well, not that i would know what that would feel like, but i imagine it would feel something like this." The boy shook as more tears ran from his eyes, the tail was the only thing holding him up, if not for it he would have collapsed completely.

"This is unlike you, kit, you never give up…" Kyuubi was wondering what was really going in with its host, the blonde had been far down before, but never so bad that he lost the will to live, there had to be something more behind his change for the worse.

"I don't know what it is, Kyuubi, but I'm just so… Broken. What happened to me, I'm not sure I can take going back, I can't keep on living like I did, that was all just a lie and I won't be able to hide that any more, but if I change and show how I really feel than the villagers will hurt me even more, and the few people I actually have will probably leave me, cause it won't be the same me anymore, I'm so scared. And then there's _him_…" Naruto seemed to fall deep in thought at the last sentence. Him? The fox wondered, who could its kit be referring to? There had been something in the blonde's voice as he spoke of whoever the male was, something the fox had never noticed so strongly with the blonde. If it wasn't wrong, the emotion in the blonde's voice was that called affection. Something more, too, but as the large animal didn't know much of emotions it could not surely tell, all it really could do was try and get it's kit to talk.

"Him? Who are you referring too, kit?" Naruto looked up, big, blue eyes staring into the fox's red.

"Kakashi…" the teen's voice was low, but the Kyuubi's ears had picked up on it.

"Your ex-sensei, huh?" _that damn sharingan-brat…_ "What is it about him that troubles your mind, kit?"

"That's the thing, I don't know… It's just… I want him to see me, notice me, care about me, but of course he doesn't. Like everyone else…"

"Kit…"

"It's ok, I'm used to it." The blonde even put on his happy mask when he was talking to the monster of his mind, the fox couldn't help but worry for the blonde as it silently comforted him until he once again cried himself to sleep.

--

Kakashi couldn't sleep, his pounding head was to blame for that, but he didn't really care. His body would be restituted in a couple of days, then he could get out of the damn hospital… And he could ask Jiraiya about the blonde, he had to know what was going on with the teen, not having a clue was slowly driving him insane, especially now when the blonde was in such a state as he was.

He wasn't supposed to know how Naruto was doing, but he'd been able to charm a nurse into telling him, people were so easy to trick, manipulate, he really didn't understand how they could be so stupid. No matter that, when the nurse had told him that Naruto was in a coma his heart seemed to stop, for a moment his entire world froze, then the news had slowly sunk in and fear slowly crept in on him. Naruto was in a coma, that was bad. The nurse had also said they didn't know what caused it, but he did, the mangekyo. Terror shone through in his eyes as he realized that Itachi had used that damned technique on the boy, when he'd used it against him he wasn't sure he'd make it though, what about Naruto. What had he done to the blonde in that horrible world?

* * *

**And more R****andom Rabbling: **I'm not really happy with this chapter, but I'll make it up to you next update, ok? The next chapter will be more interesting, but this one had to be written to progress the story, and just as a link so things will fit…

The week-end had really been busy, 17th of May is Norway's independence day (I'm Norwegian) and so that whole day went away, and my father is here to visit (he's living in Belgium this year), so I can't just sit at my computer and write all the time… real life calls, you know P

Well, even if this chapter was quite eventless I hope you still managed to enjoy it somewhat, and as I said I promise more things will happen in the next one, so don't give up on me just yet

Again – **Review** please ) I got more review on last chapter than any of the others, so it's going in the right direction, just keep it up and I shall shower you with candy and delicious things

Ja'ne


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** Really, it should be enough to only say this at the beginning of the fic, but here goes: As shocking as this may be to you all, I still do not own Naruto… Wow, right?

**Random Ra****mblings: **We bought a house a while ago, and we're moving into it this weekend, so it's quite busy, but I still managed to type up this chapter, and I'm pretty happy with it )

I had a killer headache – It feelt as if something or someone was hammering the inside of my head trying to get out - and I couldn't sleep, so I watched Hana Yori Dango for a while (I only have like 4 episodes left of season 2) and then I wrote like 70 of this chapter, but I think it turned out ok

Ok, back on track, here's the next chapter for ya'll, enjoy D

**Chapter 9**

A week had passed since team Shikamaru had returned from the retrieval mission bringing home three unconscious shinobi, and finally Kakashi was getting out of the hospital. He'd decided on checking out as fast as he could, then he'd go in search of Jiraiya. He really _had_ to know what was going on with Naruto, countless scenarios of horrible things that could have happened to the blonde had been all he could think of whilst he was laying in his hospital, and it was making him feel uneasy.

As he walked though the white-painted halls of the hospital he happened to pass Sai's room, deciding on stopping by the boy to see how he was doing. Opening the door he quickly stepped inside, finding the boy, as usual, drawing.

"Sai." The boy looked up, he hadn't been expecting visitors, the only people who'd usually come to visit him were his teammates - Naruto, who happened to be in a come, Sakura, who had completely devoted herself to whatever work Tsunade was giving her – she was trying to push away the feeling of guilt – and Yamato who was on a mission that would last for another couple of days – no, Kakashi had definitely not been expected.

"Kakashi." Silence. Neither of the two was too talkative at the moment, but the jounin couldn't stand the emptiness that filled the air, speaking again.

"How are you?" What a stupid question, unnecessary, with his jounin skills he could easily tell Sai's state by a combination of looking at the boy and reading his chakra, and the boy was doing quite well.

"I'm fine, I'll be out in a few days, I am still dizzy when I get up and my body is worn out, so the Hokage decided I should stay a bit longer to get back for full, you have probably been through it yourself enough times to know." The boy looked pale, well he always did, but Kakashi couldn't help but think how white the boy's skin looked compared to Naruto's tan, silky… _No. Bad, Kakashi, bad, he's your student. What the heck is going on with me…?_

"Ah, sou ka? I'm glad to hear that. Well, I should get going, I suppose I'll see you later, Sai" with that Kakashi left, closing the door behind him and kept on walking till he got to the reception.

As quick as he managed to check out and get passed his fan-club of nurses, Kakashi went in search of Jiraiya, the sooner he could ask the sannin what was up with Naruto, the better…

--

_This place is so strange, so empty, but yet it feels so safe… I never want to leave._ The blonde boy could feel the great demon's eyes looking at him, studying him where he sat in the middle of the room in front of the large cage. Quite some time had passed, he wasn't sure how much exactly because in this place everything seemed the same – it could have been seconds, it could have been years – and whilst he'd been crying in the start he'd given up the tears and sobbing, resigning himself to whatever his fate may be.

"Kyuubi, would you stop looking at me like that, it feels really strange …?" The large fox moved its gaze to a stain on the wall behind the blonde, growling almost silently.

"Kit, you have to return to them someday, you know that, right?" There was a long pause, the blonde didn't answer and the fox did not speak anew, but then words filled the air.

"I'm not sure, Kyuubi, I'm just not sure I can handle going back… I know I'm selfish, but… I don't want to go back to that place where all that awaits me is pain; I doubt I'll be able to take it…" Again Kyuubi growled, louder this time so the blonde would hear how displeased it was.

"Yes, child, you are selfish. There have been people with you every day, your friends come to sit by your side for hours every day, and how about Iruka?" Naruto knew the fox was right, and when it mentioned Iruka he felt a pang of guilt shoot through him; the kindhearted chunin had come to see him every day since he ended up in the hospital, talking to him, pleading him to wake up, he'd even started crying on several occasions – Naruto knew what was going on outside, as did Kyuubi, but the boy just didn't want to leave the comfort of safety that he found there in his mind – Naruto looked upon the brunette as his older brother and confidant, his only family, well, him Jiraiya and Tsunade, and he knew that Iruka felt the same towards him. He felt quite cruel as he thought of the fragile man, he knew how worried Iruka got even if he just had a scratch, he wouldn't stop nagging until he knew exactly how Naruto had gotten it and so what was happening now must be horrible for him, yet the fear of what was awaiting him if he returned was larger, weighed too heavy compared to that, and he would not leave his sanctuary if he didn't have too.

"I know, Kyuubi, but I just can't go back, at least not yet, sometime I might, though…" The demon let out a sigh intended to make the child in front of its cage understand how displeased it was, the blonde simply ignoring the sound, resuming thinking like he had before the conversation started.

There was one way, the blonde though, one way that he might consider going back to that horrible place, and that was if he knew that there would be someone who cared for him, acknowledged him, who waited for him there, but there were only Tsunade, Jiraiya and Iruka, he thought, and though they were the closest thing to family he had it wasn't enough. He wanted, needed something more, he was unsure of what, but there was something, and he was sure that when he felt it he would know. _If _he felt it, he would know.

_ Flashback _

_It was the day Kakashi had trained team 7 for Yamato, after practice they'd gone to get something to eat. When they were done and Naruto was about to leave, Sakura and Sai had already walked off, Kakashi had grabbed his arm, saying he had something to talk to him about. They'd gotten into a quite heated discussion, Kakashi trying to probe into Naruto's secrets, the blonde not willing to give them away._

"_Why, Naruto? Why won't you just tell someone the truth for once? Not everyone hates you, you know, we care for you, want to help you, if you just let us..." Naruto felt something inside of him snap. Why didn't he just tell someone? Why? What kind of question was that? All his life no one had ever cared for him and now people said that they did, but if he told them, surely they'd laugh and he'd be even worse off than before – either that or they'd pity him, feel sorry for him, and that was definitely not something Naruto wanted. _

"_Because, Kakashi, there is nothing to say, I'm telling the truth." Again, Kakashi shook his head. _

"_Naruto, talk to us, please. We can see something is wrong, I can see. Just..." A long pause form the jounin, he was unsure what to say for once in his life. "__**Trust me**__."_

"_Trust you?" Naruto had been so enraged as never before, black and red spots flying before his eyes as he screamed at the silver-haired jounin in front of him, then stormed away to his apartment where he had cut himself, knowing he shouldn't but somehow having to escape the pain threatening to make his mind collapse. _

_Flashback Over _

Those two words, "Trust me", Naruto knew that to Kakashi they probably hadn't meant anything, just a way to get him to talk, but to the blonde they meant the world. He had wanted so much to just break down and cry, tell the man everything and just let his constant guard down, but he hadn't. Couldn't. How could he trust someone like Kakashi, Kakashi who wouldn't even give him the time of day, much less really care about him? He hadn't dared tell the man even though it was all he wanted to do, instead he'd freaked out, yelling and screaming, then running home to where he hurt himself. He knew that that, too, was something he shouldn't do, but he had to, if he didn't the pain he felt inside would become too much. Now he _almost_ wished he'd have told the man, then, just maybe, they wouldn't be in a situation like they were.

--

As Naruto was discussing a certain male with the Kyuubi, that very male was sitting by his bed holding the blonde his hand lightly and speaking gently to him.

"Ne, Naruto... It's been a week already, why won't you wake up?" As expected there was no answer, the boy didn't even move and his academy teacher had to bite his lip not to cry – this had never happened before, the blonde always woke up within a day even if he had life threatening injuries, this time he hardly had a scratch, but still so long had passed without any signs of life except for the heart monitor beeping rhythmically next to him.

"You know everyone misses you, right? All your friends are here every day to see you, Tsunade and Jiraiya too, and then there's me... I come here every spare minute I have, Naruto, and I know that I'm probably too worried and all, but I can't help it... If I lose you then, well, without you I have nothing left, you know..." The chunin's thumb gently trailed up Naruto's arm, feeling the scars and scabs owed to the blonde's self mutilation, it was taking all his self control not to break down right then. _Why, Naruto? Why? Why have you done this to yourself? Why didn't you tell me, and what led you to do such things? Even more so, why didn't I notice? I'm sorry, Naruto, I should have seen, I should have known something was wrong... Please just come back, Naruto..._

Tears were slowly finding their way down Iruka's tan cheeks, the brunette sinking together until his head was resting on his knees, his fingers pulling at his hair and his nails digging into the skin on the back of his head. He was desperate, worried to such extent only a mother-hen like him would know, small sobs coming from him as he sat by Naruto's bed and tried his best to keep himself at least gathered enough to get himself home when night came.

--

Sighing, Kakashi came to a halt as he returned to his starting point; again he stood outside the Konoha hospital. He'd been pretty much all over Konoha looking for a certain, white-haired sannin, said sannin, however, was nowhere to be found. As the clock was nearing 6 pm the jounin was contemplating going home, resuming his Jiraiya-hunt tomorrow, but he'd give it one last shot – He had yet to check the hot springs.

Roughly 10 minutes had passed since Kakashi had stood outside the hospital, ready to give up for the day, now he was standing in one of the changing rooms of the hot springs. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier, of course Jiraiya would be in the hot springs, where else? _Damn, I'm getting slow – the man is practically known as the perv of all pervs and I didn't think to look in the hot springs until now? Well, I can smell his blood already, probably a nosebleed… _Kakashi chuckled, so low that no one but himself would hear it – he couldn't be caught laughing like this, it would ruin his entire reputation – then he walked into the steamy hot spring.

Surely enough, as Kakashi had walked into the water and neared the wall separating the men's bath from the women's he caught sight of a white mane of hair seemingly belonging to a man peeking through a hole in the wall.

"Ne, Jiraiya, isn't that quite rude?" Kakashi's voice was that of a teacher as he spoke, trying his best to annoy the sannin a little before their talk. As the male peeking through the wall finally noticed someone was there with him he turned around, wiping away the blood caused by his nosebleed with one hand.

"Ah, but it's research, you see, so it's all good. I have to do this so that I can write those books you like so much, you know." Jiraiya grinned, then added "And if that's what you're here about, since you're seemingly here to talk to me, then you're not getting anywhere. I will not tell you anything of what the new book will be about or when it is coming out, Kakashi. I thought you knew that by now." Kakashi laughed lightly, what else would he have expected from the man, after all he _did_ bug him quite a lot about his favorite books, but he had to get to the point.

"No, Jiraiya, that's not what I'm here about… I need to talk to you about Naruto." There was an awkward silence, both men knowing this would not be a comfortable conversation, but it was necessary.

"What about Naruto?" The eldest of the two did not want to say anything unnecessary; he'd made a promise to the boy after all, so he decided to play dumb. The light atmosphere from earlier changed as did both the males moods, from light to serious.

"Everything. I know something is wrong, Jiraiya, it isn't that hard to see. I tried talking to him right before the mission, but it ended in him shouting at me then running off. It wasn't like his normal outbursts, it was much, I'm not sure what to call it, much sharper, angrier. Ever since he returned from his training with you… No, ever since I brought him back from _that time_, he's changed, he's not himself anymore. He's so much quieter, more secluded, and I can tell something's just not right…" Kakashi sighed, how had it come to this? Things had gotten so complicated somehow, he wished they hadn't.

"Well, things have happened to him, that and he's matured, it's only natural for him to change…"

"Don't avoid my question, Jiraiya, I know that much too, but there's got to be something more, hell, he's been hurting himself, you know that there is _something_ more. Also, he told me that you were the only one who knew everything about him, so start talking, if not I'll force it out of you, and you know I'm capable of it." Kakashi's eyes, if it had been possible, would have stared holes in the sannin before him as he spoke, the white haired male was trying to come up with a way to avoid telling the truth, but he could think of nothing, and he knew that Kakashi could get him to talk if he so desired, the jounin did, after all, possess the sharingan along with his incredible arsenal of other nin-, tai- and gen-jutsu and just plain smarts.

"Are you sure you want to know this, Hatake? Once you've heard what happened to him you'll never be able to forget it, this is your last chance at going back. I can only speak for myself, but if it didn't help the kid I would have wished that I didn't know." Jiraiya was telling the truth, Kakashi could tell, and thoughts that he might not want to know this were slowly sneaking up on him, but it was too late to back down now.

"Yes, I'm sure. I need to know what has happened to him, I have this strange feeling that it's something serious, and I need to know"… _I need to find some way to bring him back, bring the __**real**__ him back…_

"Very well, but I suggest we go somewhere else first, this is really not the place…" It wasn't that the hot springs weren't private enough, there was no one other than them there at the moment, but Jiraiya really did not want to be sitting in the hot springs next to Kakashi as he vomited – which he was pretty sure he would when he heard the news – because vomit and water mixed was not something he felt like seeing, much less sitting in.

"Were do we go, then?" Kakashi casually stood, walking back towards the changing rooms with Jiraiya following close behind.

"How about Minato?" Kakashi, of course, knew that Jiraiya was talking about the grand carving of the Yondaime's head and nodded, then they both walked in silence into the changing rooms and got back into their clothes before Kakashi used a teleporting jutsu to get them to the mountain.

The smoke that came with using the jutsu disappeared quickly in the warm evening breeze, the two males settling down at the edge of the great statue; Kakashi's feet dangling over the edge, Jiraiya sitting on a quite large rock.

"You know Itachi used the Mangekyo, and I've been thinking that whatever the bastard did to him in that damn world is the reason he's not waking up…" Jiraiya nodded in agreement, he was sure that it was linked, if not the blonde would have been up already, he'd never been out this long before.

"Mm. Well, I'll tell you what it is under two conditions; Firstly, you will not tell _anyone_ about it, and secondly, you will under no circumstances use this against him. Do you agree to both conditions or did I come here for no reason, Kakashi?" there was no time needed for Kakashi to think, of course he agreed. He would have no use of telling anyone else about it, and he would _never_ try to hurt the blonde, so he'd have no reason for using whatever he was about to learn against him.

"Yes, I do. Now start talking, Jiraiya."

"Well then, here goes. After he'd lost against Sasuke, Naruto lost consciousness, and when he woke up he was in a lair… with Kabuto and _Orochimaru_." Noticing Kakashi's quirked brow as he spoke, Jiraiya figured he might as well explain how he knew. "He didn't tell me willingly, Kakashi, but when he was with me training I heard him screaming one night, and talking in his sleep, it seemed as he was pleading with someone about something, so I asked him about it. He did not want to tell, but I persuaded him. Never mind that, but this is what happened to him; He was raped, Kakashi, raped by both Kabuto and Orochimaru several times, but that is not by far the worst part." The sannin felt no need to soften the harsh truth, Kakashi had asked, and he would hear the whole story. "No, the worst part was when Sasuke came into the picture. They told him to either take Naruto or they'd leave them both there, and so, even though he had the option not to, he too raped him, the scum that he is. If I ever see that Uchiha, I swear, I can't be held responsible for what I do to him… Anyways, after the bastard raped Naruto too, he lost consciousness, but right before that that… Sasuke, apologized to him. Somehow - I can't comprehend how he is able to do something like that, but it's not up to me - it seems he's forgiven the bastard, but he still hates him – have you noticed how he acts whenever that boy's name is brought up?" Kakashi nodded weakly, feeling something in him snap, his insides churning, whatever food he had eaten earlier was quickly finding its way up his throat and onto the ground as Jiraiya had anticipated.

The jounin was standing on all fours, his stomach still threatening him to rise though there were no more contents that he could possibly throw up. How? How could something so horrible have happened to Naruto? He was the essence of innocence and happiness, and they would just break him like that… The anger he felt was unlike any he'd felt before, so much stronger, and whatever feelings he thought he had for the blonde seemed to intensify a hundred times. His head was pounding as was his heart, as he struggled to breathe calmly.

_Naruto… I had no idea… Why didn't you tell us, we would have helped you… I swear, Naruto, that __**when**__you wake up I'll be there for you. Damn, how I regret paying more attention to that, that bastard now, I should have been fair to you three, especially you – I know I ignored you, left you out – and I definitely shouldn't have trained so much with Sasuke, just look where that's gotten us al. This mess, If I hadn't trained Sasuke so much, if he wasn't that strong, then maybe at least some of this wouldn't have happened, and you would surely not have to go through the hell that I imagine you have… I'm sorry. _Thoughts kept spinning in Kakashi's head as he collapsed in his bead, he didn't exactly know how, but somehow he'd managed to get back to his apartment, maybe Jiraiya had helped him, maybe he'd walked, he wasn't sure, but he was 'home', and as soon as his head the mattress he was asleep.

--

The hokage was sitting at her desk which was overloaded with papers that needed to be signed from the whole week, a heavy sigh sounding as she rose to her feet and walked over to the window looking out over her beloved Konoha. The sight of the city calmed her somewhat, it was evening and darkness was slowly enveloping the village, only the streetlights and lights from the villager's houses kept the town looking alive.

Why hadn't Naruto woken up yet? Hell, it would be enough if he just moved, but he just lay there in his bed like a statue. _Naruto, you can breathe by yourself, your heart's beating regularly now, how come you're not waking up?_ Tsunade's mind was working on high gear to figure out what was keeping the boy from opening his blue eyes again, but she couldn't find a single reason why he'd still not wake up, arriving at the conclusion that he must be choosing to stay asleep.

"Naruto…" The blonde's voice was carried away by the wind as she sighed yet again, she hadn't gotten much sleep the week passed, she was too busy worrying about Naruto, and her body was starting to reach to the lack of it. She slowly turned around as she felt a familiar chakra enter the room, finding Jiraiya again seated in the chair in the corner.

"He'll be fine, Tsunade-chan, he's a strong kid." The man's voice was calm, much unlike his feelings, but he had to calm Tsunade down, she was the hokage after all, and she needed to be able to do her job.

"I suppose, but it's just I'm worried for him. I shouldn't have given him that damned necklace, it keeps killing off everyone I love, and now… I don't know what I'll do if he doesn't wake up, but one thing's sure and that's that if that necklace ever returns to me it won't leave again…"

"Tsunade, it's not your or the necklace's fault, he'll wake up, just give him time. He's been through a lot, you know that, but he'll come around."

"How can you be so sure of that, 'Raiya?" Jiraiya could see that the woman in front of him was about to break into tears, she might seem tough, but when it came to the people she loved she tended to get very emotional, he couldn't blame her, though.

"I have faith in him, Tsunade, don't you?" He smiled one of those wonderful smiles of his, calming her a little.

"Yeah, I suppose…"

"Then rest, Tsunade, sleep, you need it. I'll be here, and if anything happens you'll hear it within ten seconds at the most, you know that. G'night" the white harired sannin shifted slightly in the chair, smiling up at his dearest friend, then gestured for her to sleep.

"You know what, I will…" The gentle smile the talk had earned him made his day, as he watched Tsunade go into the bedroom connected to the office so that she could get a good night's rest.

--

Iruka had just left his bedside, Naruto knew, and he felt guilty for having made the man cry as he had, but it was still not enough to make him return, he wasn't sure what would be.

He'd been thinking quite a lot about his 'fight' with Kakashi after he stopped crying, thoughts of the jounin entering his mind even when he tried to block them out. It was as if his thoughts were infected with the man, and he couldn't help but wonder why.

"Ne, Kyuubi, I know you don't know anything about feelings and all, but when someone's on your mind all the time, even when you try not to think about them, and you can't get them out of your thoughts, is there something wrong with you?" The blonde seemed like a little child as he spoke, but when it came to serious emotions he wasn't much more, he'd never been allowed to fully feel, if he did the villagers would taunt him for it, and he'd do anything to avoid that.

"I do not know, kit, but I do not think that there is something wrong with you, you will have to figure this out on your own, though…" The fox made a strange face, it tried to look kind but miserably failed, then returned to its normal self.

"Okay," _I have to find out what's wrong with me, but I can only do that if I wake up, so I guess it'll have to wait… I just don't understand… and I think I'm starting to regret not having told him, I feel as if I want him to know, like he wouldn't leave me if he did…_ As he thought of a million things, most of them concerning a certain, silver haired male, Naruto slowly fell asleep, the only difference from all the other times he'd done so was that this time there were no tears, and there would be no nightmares to scare him awake.


	10. Chapter 10

**Important:** Meagan - **ReixGaara **– offered to be my beta, so I now have one ) Thank you so much, darling, this chapter is dedicated to you!

**Random Rambling:** We're done moving, and oh how wonderful isn't that? Strange thing is, I'm sixteen, and this is the first house I've lived in that we've actually owned – it feels nice knowing that I actually have a permanent place to call 'home' this time, though I wouldn't change moving around for anything in the world.

fanfiction . net /s/4246379/1 (just without the spaces, but i seriously couldn't get the link to stay here, it wouldn't work...)

**That would be Silverraven's story Shattered Memories, it's good and you should all check it out :)**

**(**_Evil __**disclaimer**__ where I tell you that I do not own Naruto, and that It all belongs to Masashi Kishimoto but my plot, this very story and the laptop on which I am typing it…  
That was all, right?__**)**_

**story shattered memories is really good, you should all check it out **

**Review**, please, you know how happy you make me and I shall throw candy at you all! Thank you so much to all those of you who have, you're so sweet all of you D

**Summary of last chapter:** Naruto's still in a coma, Kakashi persuades Jiraiya to tell him the truth about our favorite blonde shinobi, and Iruka is breaking down. Kakashi is horrified with the truth, unable to comprehend that something so horrible could have happened to the blonde and Naruto can't seem to get Kakashi off his mind.

Here's the new chapter (finally after all those notes P): Enjoy!

**Chapter 10**

"_Naruto slowly fell asleep, the only difference from all the other times he'd done so was that this time there were no tears, and there would be no nightmares to scare him awake."_

Kakashi was walking quickly through one of the many streets of Konoha; he was headed for the hospital to see his much missed blonde student – or former student. But Kakashi refused to acknowledge that they weren't any more, still acting like he always had towards the two remaining members of his team - he hadn't even had the time to see Naruto yet. Ever since he got out of the hospital he'd been constantly busy being sent out on bothersome missions by Tsunade, who partially blamed him for what was happening to Naruto. It wasn't like he disagreed with her. He should have known, or at least done something when Naruto left, but he hadn't. Naruto was back in Konoha, though, and at the moment that was all that mattered.

Turning a corner Kakashi moved onto a larger street, walking even faster making it seem like every single second counted, and to him it did. Every second the blonde was unconscious made it less probable that he'd ever wake up, every second he lay unmoving on that bed was torture to everyone who knew him, cared for him, and every second made Kakashi's heart hurt even more. He didn't exactly know why he cared so greatly for the blonde, why the teen made his heart beat faster every time he thought of him as of lately, but he couldn't overlook it like he had before. This time he would take the chance, he didn't want to loose Naruto too.

"Kakashi!" A familiar voice snapped the jounin out of his thoughts, when he looked in the direction of the voice he found Tenzo, or Yamato, which the man was using as an alias when working with 'team 7', standing casually by a fruit stall, waving at him to come over.

_I don't have the time for this…_ "Good morning, Yamato." Kakashi took out his little orange book and started reading, partially because he wanted to know what happened next in the story but mostly because he wanted to show Yamato that he'd rather be somewhere else. Lately he hadn't even been reading his books too much, his mind to disturbed whenever he read of the actions in the book, his thoughts always returning to Naruto.

"Where are you headed in such a hurry, it's not like you to bother quickening your pace for anything but a mission, hardly even that…" Yamato was correct; it was definitely not normal for him, Kakashi thought, to actually hurry to be somewhere, but this was important.

"Maa, even I hurry if there's something interesting enough…" _and Naruto surely is my greatest interest at the moment._

"Sou ka… But what could have gotten your interest?" Why, of all days why did Yamato have to pick this one for one of his long talks?

"Yamato, not to be rude, but I've got someplace to be and I'd like to get there. I can talk to you later, but right now I would like to get going." Yamato looked a little offended, but he soon smiled again.

"Ah, of course, but I will get you to tell me, you know that, right?" Kakashi nodded, he'd have time to quarrel with the man later, but not now. Did it really matter if he knew Kakashi was going to see Naruto anyways?

"Thank you, oh, and by the way it's Naruto. I haven't had a chance to see him yet, so that's where I'm going."

Yamato looked positively shocked as he watched Kakashi's back disappear into the crowd on the street. He'd never expected Kakashi to actually hurry doing anything, least of all when it came to Naruto, who he seemed so passive about. The jounin had never seemed to care much for the blonde, but now he was acting like this? Well, whatever it was, the undercover ANBU thought, he wanted to see what would happen.

--

Iruka was sitting on the lone swing hanging from a tree by the academy where Naruto and he had been so often together, memories flashing through his mind, images passing like a slideshow of him and the blonde, the blonde who was now lying deadly still on a too-white hospital bed.

"Ne, Naruto, why won't you just wake up, I miss you..." His whisper seemed to linger in the air for a short while before it disappeared, leaving the brunette sitting alone in silence. A small cloud of sand and dust rose from the ground only to settle moments later as he kicked the ground creating just enough momentum for the swing to start moving slowly, then he started swinging his legs to move it more.

As the swing gained speed, the tanned male still swinging his legs to make it move even faster, a tear dropped to the ground, staining the dirt where it landed for a moment before it slowly dried out. Abruptly, the swing came to a halt as Iruka again placed his feet on the ground, Shizune standing directly in front of him being the reason.

"How are you, Iruka?" the woman's gentle voice calmed him slightly as he contemplated how to answer.

"I'm okay I suppose…" Shizune, who for unknown reasons had for once not brought her pet-pig Ton-Ton, shook her head, moving her hands in a disapproving manor.

"No, Iruka, I know you're not, so why don't you tell me how you really are?" As expected of Tsunade's apprentice she could easily tell he was lying, no that that was too hard for anyone, he'd never been a good liar.

"Will… Will he wake up?" it didn't matter if she knew how worried he was, hell, why should it? He could see the way she looked at him, not with pity, but with concern and some form of affection; blushing slightly as he wasn't used to people looking at him this way, seemingly analyzing him as he spoke.

"I'm sure he will, he's Naruto, after all, he'll pull through anything." She smiled, a gentle, warm smile, reaching out and brushing her hand over his check, trailing the tear-track that had long since dried with her thumb, then quickly pulled back. _Why did I do that? What's coming over me?_ _He just looked so sad, so, well…_ She didn't really know what, but Shizune had felt some sort of overwhelming need to comfort the male, unsure of whether she'd done so the right way.

"Sou ka…" Iruka hadn't been expecting the touch, but he didn't do anything to avoid it, it felt good somehow, knowing that there were others out there who cared for him.

"Ne, Iruka, why don't we go for a bite, eh? I'll buy you something tasty if you come along." Another smile, then she took his hand, dragging him off the swing and to his feet. "Let's go"

Iruka had no chance to say anything as he simply let himself get dragged along to where ever Shizune had in mind. Maybe this would be good for him; maybe it would get his mind off Naruto for a while. _I'm sorry, Naruto, but sitting around worrying won't do either of us any good, will it. I'm sure if you were awake you wouldn't want me to just sit around crying, right? You would have wanted me to go out and have fun like you always do…_ A small smile graced Iruka's lips as he pictured the blonde grinning broadly, and although that smile had become less and less frequent, whenever it was there it was so infectious one couldn't help but smile back. _I wonder what's been keeping that smile off your face lately, but I guess you'll tell me in time if it's anything you want me to know…_

--

As Kakashi entered Naruto's room there was a slight change in the pace of the heart monitor, the beeps coming a little more frequently just as the jounin entered, but the man was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice.

In his mindscape Naruto froze, this presence that filled the room was that of Kakashi, the blonde's heart beating a little faster just knowing he was there. Kakashi hadn't come to see him since he'd been in the hospital, and thoughts had been going through the teen's mind that either he'd been badly injured and was still hospitalized himself – which was highly unlikely – or that he didn't want to see him, which had been Naruto's biggest concern until the moment he felt Kakashi's presence enter the room.

"Relax, Kit." The kyuubi easily noticed the change in Naruto's vitals; the kid needed to calm down if nothing else, just so nothing happened to his body.

"He's here…" The boy was in his own world, his thoughts drifting off as he thought of Kakashi; maybe, just maybe, he might be able to sort out these things he'd been feeling lately.

_Damn, this place is so…white._ Kakashi took a look around the room, noticing all the flowers, cards and gifts that adorned a table by the left-hand wall of the small room, and there was also a single, orange rose in a vase on Naruto's nightstand with a card from Sakura telling him to 'Get well soon you BAKA or I'll have to go find Sasuke without you!' He almost choked as he saw the card. Any thoughts of the raven seemed so repulsing to him, and how Naruto had, according to Jiraiya, seemingly managed to forgive him was completely absurd to the jounin. _Oh, Sakura, if you only knew you wouldn't even want him back…_

Proceeding to step closer to Naruto's bed, Kakashi looked down at the blonde's calm face, noticing how the boy's chest heaved and lowered slightly when his gaze moved along the teen's body, the covers were down at his hips, his frog pajamas probably warm enough in them selves.

"Naruto…" He looked so peaceful where he lay in that hospital bed, and Kakashi couldn't help but reach out with a hand to trail a finger along the whisker like scars on the boy's cheeks, then moving his hand to play with blonde locks.

"Won't you wake up? I… need you here. I need to talk to you..."

"Need… to talk… to me?" Naruto was puzzled. What could Kakashi ever want to talk to him about? As he repeated what the jounin had said the words just sounded strange on his lips, like they weren't meant to be there._ It's probably nothing, either that or about how bad I screwed up…_

"You've got to stop being so damn negative all the time, Kit, and stop underestimating your own worth…" Kyuubi was cut short as Naruto snapped; how dare it tell him such things.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause it's completely normal to have top self esteem after being raped, right? 'Specially when it was the evil overlord and his fucking sluts – one of them who used to be your best friend. Oh, and having a pretty much everyone hate you because your father sealed a _demon_ inside you really helps the situation, especially when you're _not_ the demon, just what keeps _it_ from destroying the whole, fucking world, and your father wanted you to be seen as a hero but instead you're seen as the demon inside you! Yeah, my life's been so great that I've got every reason to feel great, right?" The fox growled, the boy had a point – the world hadn't been kind or fair, nor easy towards him, and the person he was he'd deserved better.

"Sorry, but still, kid, you realize that you have people on your side too, right?" A confused look passed over Naruto's face before he smiled and nodded. He did have the whole rookie 9 and team Gai, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, Iruka, and if he was lucky he just might have Kakashi…

"Hai…" Once more he disappeared into his own little world, imagining just how the world could have been if it weren't for the Kyuubi. He could have been normal, he could have had a family; Sasuke might never have run off, Iruka's family may still be alive. Everything might have been different, but on the other hand he might not have met Kakashi… That single thought seemed to make his whole hell somehow worth it, there was just something about the older male that captivated Naruto, and he wasn't sure what he'd do without him in his life.

As he was in the middle of a trail of thoughts four words rang loudly through the air, reaching his ears sounding as clear as anything he'd ever heard before.

"I love you, Naruto."

"It's true, I don't know what I'll do if you don't wake up. I just realized, and now I know that if you don't return to me, if you abandon me to, well, I don't know what I'll do…" _Please hear me, Naruto, and please come back. _

Kakashi's hand, which had been playing with the teen's silky, blonde hair all the while he was talking moved slowly down to his face again, sliding over all those perfect features before it rested on his shoulder.

Suddenly, as if something took control of his body, Kakashi bent down and placed a soft kiss on Naruto's pink lips, then stood again.

Kakashi stood to leave; he couldn't stand to stay in the small, white hospital room any longer, but just as he turned to move out the door a loud beep sounded, when he turned around he noticed the line that was supposed to show Naruto's heartbeat on a machine close to his bed had gone flat. _No! Don't you even try dying on me, Naruto! _

"Help!" Kakashi stuck his head out into the hall, calling for anyone to come. As soon as he shouted close to 20 doctors and nurses were standing around the door to Naruto's room, suddenly noticing what was going on they got to work on the boy who was now lying, medically dead, on his bed.

"I'll call for Tsunade." Kakashi was quick to summon two of his nin-dogs, "Go get Sakura and Tsunade!"

The dogs didn't even bother to reply, leaving in a puff of smoke to obey their summoner's orders.

--

"Where's Tsunade?" Sakura was shocked to find not Tsunade, but Jiraiya in her office sleeping. Snapping to attention at the young kunoichi's slightly annoying and a little too high-pitched voice Jiraiya looked up, greeting her with a small nod towards the bedroom.

"She's sleeping, I told her to get some rest last night, she needed it. Why?"

"Tsunade! Naruto's heart stopped, we need you!" the Pink haired girl was screaming out as she slammed open the door to the bedroom, revealing Tsunade standing ready to open the door from the other side with a nin-dog by her side.

"I know, you ready to go?" The blonde woman grabbed Sakura's arm, and though she hardly ever used teleporting jutsu she would now; this was an emergency after all. As she and Sakura disappeared she just managed to yell out to Jiraiya that they'd meet him in the hospital, seconds later arriving in Naruto's now overcrowded room.

"Move" Tsunade commanded as she entered the room, every person in the room obeying her orders so that she and Sakura could get to the bed. Only as she raised her head to look at who was in the room did she notice Kakashi, sending him a glare saying something in the direction of 'if you had _anything _to do with this you're dead'.

As the two highly skilled medic nin's worked on the boy they found starting his heart again a surprisingly easy job, only taking some minutes – thanks to the kyuubi, Tsunade assumed.

When Naruto was stabilized Tsunade turned to face the horde of people gathered in the small room, telling them all to leave, including Sakura, but as Kakashi walked towards the door as the last person she stopped him, keeping him in the room and closing the door so she could ask him what had happened.

Attempting to lie his way out of the situation, Kakashi knew from experience, was not a good idea, but what could he possibly say. After minutes of trying to think of something that might save his life he still came up with nothing, figuring that as absurd as the truth was, it might shock his Hokage enough so that she'd leave him alive…at least for now.

"I confessed to him." Tsunade looked like a living question mark where she stood. "I love him and I told him that, it was nothing more. This time I'm not going to let it slip away, Tsunade." She knew what he meant. Last time he'd cared for someone he'd lost them, all of them. Perhaps, however wrong this may seem, she should give him a chance.

Just as she was about to speak a familiar, white haired head popped through the door, asking about the situation.

"Well, it most certainly is good to hear that Naruto is ok, but Kakashi, I never saw that coming. _Maybe I'll make a book out of this_..." the last part Jiraiya simply added to himself, it wouldn't be like his other books, but who knew, change might be good. "Well, now all those questions you asked me make much more sense at least…" Kakashi nodded in reply, Tsunade decided not to meddle, if Jiraiya thought it was important he'd tell her, she knew.

A little while passed as the three talked, in the end arriving at the conclusion that until Naruto woke up and could state his mind on the matter nobody would know – some things are simply better off left alone – after they'd finished discussing some various things Tsunade checked Naruto's vitals once more, deciding he was safe, then she and Jiraiya left, leaving Kakashi to have some privacy with the blonde.

--

"What will you do, Kit?" The fox was doing something that resembled a grin, the only thing it accomplished was to make it look even more evil than it was, but it meant to be kind, Naruto knew.

"I want to go back, Kyuubi, I just… can I wait a little… I'm still kind of shocked, you know…" the fox nodded. The reason Naruto's heart had stopped had been shock, shock when Kakashi had said he loved the boy, but it hadn't been hard to 'fix' the boy since this time he was willing.

"Well, all you have to do is open your eyes and he'll be there for you this time; you know that now."

"I suppose," Naruto smiled, for real, he was in ecstasy finding out that Kakashi loved him. He had yet to figure out his feelings for the man, but this sure wouldn't hurt. Now, since he knew, he didn't have to be so afraid, he knew where he was standing.

Quite some time went by but still he didn't wake. People coming to see him every day, Iruka had been here even more now, but he wasn't so sad, worried any more. He seemed happier, something which made Naruto feel relieved, and also all his friends, and _Kakashi. _

--

A week had passed since Naruto's heart had stopped and Kakashi was by for his daily visit. As he was about to leave, his hopes of ever telling the blonde how he felt fading day by day, Naruto's eyelids lifted to reveal those beautiful blue eyes the jounin had thought he might never see again looking straight into his own.

"Naruto…?" The blonde kept searching the man's eyes, looking for the truth as he was afraid all he'd heard were lies. He had to know, certain that if it had all been fake or just a dream his heart would be beyond repair, yet if it was real he may get a chance at healing the wounds that scarred his soul.

"Did…did you mean it?" Kakashi was stunned, he hadn't fully comprehended the situation yet and as Naruto spoke he couldn't understand what the teen was inquiring about. "Did you mean it when you said you love me?"

The jounin hesitated, it wasn't that he was unsure of his feelings, he'd already come to accept them, but he couldn't help but wonder how Naruto would react; would he be happy, mad, sad… What would happen? _Is this for the best? _Kakashi knew he had to say what was on his mind, he couldn't let it all slip once more, but as he was thinking his mind was screaming at him. Screaming how wrong this was of him, he didn't really care for Naruto's gender, he'd been with other males before, but he couldn't overlook how much younger Naruto was than him, how much more innocent, how the boy was his student and how much he'd been through without Kakashi noticing, without him caring. _I don't deserve someone as good as you, Naruto…_

"Answer me. Please…" Naruto's voice woke Kakashi, the jounin had been lost in his thoughts not noticing that 10 minutes had passed. The scared look in the blonde's eyes as he begged for an answer was heartbreaking to Kakashi, as was the emotion in his voice, the older of the two searched for the right words to say. "Please…?" _I need to know because you're the only way, Kakashi, the only way I'm willing to keep on living. This is the moment where you either break me or give me the hope I need to carry on, so state your choice now. _

"Naruto, I… You're awake…" Kakashi wanted to speak but his tongue betrayed him, not saying the words that he wished it to utter. The relief and happiness in the mans voice were so much stronger emotions than Naruto had ever heard before, but he was still unsure of what to think, how to feel, he wanted to feel like it was safe, that he knew what Kakashi would say, but he couldn't – still too inexperienced when it came to emotions to be sure of himself.

"Please…" the blonde's voice was weaker now, sounding even more insecure. Kakashi knew he had to speak to end the strange silence that occurred after the teen spoke.

"Yes, Naruto." Another silence came as Kakashi had no idea what to say, the blonde simply not speaking. This time, however, it was a much better one.

_Can I trust you, Kakashi, are you telling me the truth?_ Naruto couldn't feel sure even though he wanted to trust his former sensei, too used to being let down and betrayed to let anyone pass his defenses too quickly. _Can I really? I want to believe you, my savior, but I'm just not sure I'm able to do that, at least not yet. _Desperate for something, anything, to prove what Kakashi had just confessed to him was real he tried to move his hand to take hold of the older male's, but even though he'd been 'resting' for so long he lacked the strength to get it further than the edge of the bed before it just fell.

Kakashi saw Naruto's gesture before the boy's arm fell from the bed, and assuming that he'd read the boy's actions correctly he bent down and took the boy's paler than usual hand in his, squeezing it lightly. As Naruto felt the warm grip of Kakashi's hand around his own he smiled, a real smile, he still wasn't sure whether he could trust the male - believe him - but he was happy. _I' still not sure of you, but if I'm going to go back to living I might as well give it a shot with you. _Naruto tried to pull Kakashi closer, but at that moment his tiredness decided to make itself known as the blonde fell asleep instantly, his hand going limp in Kakashi's hold, the man putting it gently down besides the sleeping boy.

"Sweet dreams, Naruto." This _time you're sleeping for real, so you better wake up soon, I can't wait to see you… Now I'll have to go tell Tsunade or she'll kill me when she wakes up, and I don't think either of us wants that, do we?_ With that Kakashi walked out of the room gently shutting the door, then headed straight for the Hokage tower where he was to tell Tsunade and Jiraiya both that Naruto was back amongst the living.

--

I like the first and the last parts of this chapter, the middle of it is possibly a bit messy but I hope that you'll survive… if not feel free to tell me how to do better

Again: review please (candy, remember) P


	11. Chapter 11

**Random Rambling:** I just saw "Grave of the Fireflies" and that movie was so sad… I almost cried at the end… and I don't cry from movies…

Other than that… Oh it was really warm this weekend that was wonderful – I even got sunburnt (which wasn't as wonderful, but nevermind… ) xP

**You have to tell me;** do you want a happy or a sad ending for this, because I have two ways the plot could move, and I want to please the crowd… I'll go after what the majority says, so you better state your mind

If you don't say anything you can count on my brain typing out whatever comes first, and I'm telling you, it's not gonna be happy nor pretty – it would probably result in heartbreak and lots of blood and goriness…

**Disclaimer:** Still not mine – though when I take over the world sometime in the near future it will be…

**Last chapter:** Kakashi confessess to Naruto, Naruto's heart stops - but he lives and Naruto now knows of Kakashi's feelings for him... some ShizuIru-ness too, they're so sweet together Naruto is out of his coma xD

Go on, read and review, you've been good at it lately xD You who do are basically the reason I keep on writing… It's no fun if you don't get any feedback (though I would probably still write _anyways_ since if I didn't my head would explode with ideas and stuff…)

**Chapter 11**

"Naruto's awake," As he opened the doors into the hokage's office and slowly walking inside, Kakashi had regained his normal, uncaring posture. "He _was_ awake, rather, he fell asleep again right before I left..." As usual a bright orange book was placed in Kakashi's hand, the man lifting it and proceeding to read some more of his favourite volume of the Icha Icha series when he finished speaking.

"He's awake? And you didn't tell me immediately because?!" Tsunade, who was usually quite good at concealing her emotions when it came to any other shinobi, yelled at Kakashi. Her 'little brother' had been awake and she hadn't been there for him...

"Well, If I were to tell you immediately I'd have had to leave him while he was awake, now wouldn't I," a slight nod from Tsunade showed that she understood the reason for his not telling her at once. "So I figured I'd rather stay with him till he fell asleep again, then come back and tell you. He's out of the coma, that's all that matters, right?" Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, he couldn't help it, the blonde was finally back with the living.

Jiraiya, who had been sitting in the corner chair as usual, listening passively to the conversation so far, decided to speak. "Well, how was he? Did he say anything about..." a moment of hesitation passed the sannins voice as he was unsure how to ask, choosing the simplest way. "Itachi?"

"No, there was no mention of the... _incident_ at all, we just talked about" _I can't exactly tell them what we talked about... I mean, they know that I like him already, but it's a private matter... _"Stuff."

"Sou ka... Well, Tsunade, shouldn't you be with Naruto instead of here then, he might wake up again soon, I doubt you'd want to miss awakening number two." Jiraiya smiled kindly at Tsunade, who was already standing at the door, ready to leave.

"Aren't you coming?" She looked a little surprised, she'd expected Jiraiya to hurry with her, he was almost like the kid's father after all.

"Nah, I'll be right there, just give me a little while... He's already out of the coma, he'll be ok now." Jiraiya gave a slight nod to Tsunade as if giving her permission to leave without him, then watched her leave the room before turning to Kakashi.

The two males stood in silence for quite some time, Kakashi all the while wondering about the look Jiraiya was giving him. He didn't like the feeling of being studied like he was; he was usually the one two read other people, the situation felt highly uncomfortable to him.

"So... What _stuff_ did you talk about when he woke up, Kakashi?" The dreaded question, and he'd known it was coming all along.

"Well, he asked me if _it _was true," the meaning of the one, simple word it was implied so both males understood what the silver-haired jounin meant, "and I answered him honestly." Jiraiya nodded, he'd known that much had happened, it was a given.

"Nothing more?"

"He smiled. A real smile." Kakashi's eyes looked happy yet sad at the same time; happy for the sake that Naruto had smiled, but sad because the boy's heartfelt smiles which had come so easily when the boy was younger were now such a rare sight.

"Ah. Well, I suppose I should go see to him. Ja, Kakashi."

"Ja." Kakashi and Jiraiya left separately, Jiraiya talking the door, Kakashi using a jutsu, teleporting to the door of a certain Chunin he felt should know of Naruto's awakening.

--

_He loves me. He lies. He loves me. He lies… _The same thoughts had been repeating themselves in Naruto's head for a long time, the blonde so badly wanted to believe the words he'd heard, yet he had long since acknowledged that he couldn't and shouldn't trust what people said blindly no matter how close to him they were to him. He was trying to convince himself that the jounin was not lying to him, that he really did care for him and loved him, but for every reason to believe the man he always found an argument against too.

_He was there every day I was unconscious. He was never there before.  
He says he loves me. It could all be a lie.  
He acknowledges me. In the past he looked right passed me.  
He said he needs me. He always preferred __**him**_**.**_  
__He saved me, twice. _

Naruto sighed, at least there was one argument for believing the male, but there was _only_ one. Kakashi had always had the chance, he could always have been there for the blonde and shown him what he truly felt, but every time he'd chosen others over the boy, Sasuke in particular, and that hurt Naruto more than anyone could wish to understand.

"Damn it!" The blonde's fists were clenched by his sides as he sat on the ground, his frustration and confusion showing clearly and he did nothing to hide it.

"What is it, kit?" The kyuubi looked at the form of its host, the boy was slumped together against a wall, his blue gaze focusing on nothing in particular but giving away just how troubled he was.

"Hm? Oh, nothing, really…" It's sad, Naruto, how even in your own mind you have to put on your mask, can't you even give yourself this, being free in your own thoughts?

"Don't lie, kit, I can tell you're not fine. You'd better tell me or maybe I won't let you go back and see that _Kakashi_ of yours…" Naruto froze, he wasn't a good liar, so going on and taking the risk was no good; he had to see Kakashi again.

"Well, it's just... Uhm… I'm just not sure that I can trust him… I mean, I want to and everything but if there's one thing I've learned from my way of life it's that you shouldn't really trust people until they've done something to prove they are worthy of your trust…" The boy sank back into thought as the Kyuubi growled not so subtly.

"That man has practically saved you're life two times, kit, he's brought you back beaten and bloody but alive more than once, but you still refuse to trust him. The mere fact that you're still alive is owed to him, hadn't he come to find you when you went after Sasuke the first time you'd be dead by now…" Naruto shuddered, the fox realizing that it might have taken things to far.

"But on the other hand it was his fault that all those things happened, remember? If he hadn't he trained Sasuke so much he wouldn't have been so strong, and hadn't he been so strong I could have beaten him, gotten him home." Naruto knew that what he was saying wasn't exactly the truth, Sasuke would still have beaten him, the raven had been prepared to kill, he hadn't, but he partially blamed Kakashi for all those things that had happened, and those very things weren't easy to forgive. Although the boy pretended to have forgiven Sasuke - he pretty much had too, he supposed – he couldn't help feeling nauseous when he though of his former best friend, the repulsion that he felt at any kind of intimate touch which he would otherwise have enjoyed was the reason he'd never dated anyone, he simply couldn't handle the intimacy or the thought of being rejected and left.

"So, what are you going to do then, kit? Run like every time before, pretend that everything is fine as you fall apart like you have for the past years. If you keep it up I won't be able to heal you, you know that, I can only heal your flesh wounds, the wounds of your soul are something different."

"I suppose I'll give it a try, in the worst case he'll leave me like pretty much everyone else, the best… Well, I'd rather not get any expectations, if you know what I mean…" Oh yes, the fox knew all to well. This boy, although the demon lord wasn't a particular fan of him, he had to admit had had a harder life than he deserved; it was quite a shock he hadn't gone under yet, his strength was admirable.

Getting to his feet Naruto started walking, leaving the dark room to roam the small, flooded corridors that were in the strange place he knew to be his mind. He kept going, occasionally turning to walk in other directions, seemingly knowing where he was going as there was something definite about the way he walked. _I'll give it a go, Kakashi, I hope you won't let me down, disappoint me…_

The boy stopped as he reached a door, a bright light shining through the small openings between the door and the doorframe. Carefully, he opened it and walked into the light.

--

_Knock. Knock. Knock._ The annoying noise kept repeating itself as Iruka stalked out of the bathroom, grabbing a towel and throwing it around his tan hips on the way out, then ran over to the door, opening it slowly.

"Kakashi?" The chunin scratched his head. He never had much of a relationship with the silver-haired male standing at his door, so what was he doing outside of his apartment at 9 pm in the evening? It was definitely not about a mission as Iruka had asked to be off mission duty until Naruto awoke – he was unable to concentrate properly as his mind always seemed to return to the boy – so what could it be? A worried look briefly passed his face as he understood that the older male was there about Naruto. "Damn it… It's about Naruto, isn't it?" The tan male bit down on his lower lip drawing blood, it took all he had not to break down as he was terrified something bad had happened.

"Yes, it is. He's out of the coma, Iruka, I just though you'd like to know." The jounin grinned through his mask, something which was unusual for him, but the teacher's reaction was adorable. The male in front of him seemed not to comprehend at first, then his face seemed to pass every possibly emotion landing on the happiest smile he could possibly put on as tears fell from his eyes.

"H-he's awake?" The jounin shook his head but kept smiling.

"No, but he was just a while ago, don't worry, though, he's just sleeping this time." Iruka wanted to hug the man in front of him and would have done so had it not been Kakashi. The man was slightly intimidating to Iruka although he was Naruto's former sensei and a quite famous leaf-nin, he didn't exactly seem like the type one hugged just for the sake of hugging.

"Thanks for telling me, if you'll excuse me I have to go see him now, then!" Kakashi didn't reply but merely moved out of the way as Iruka stepped outside his apartment before realizing he was not wearing more than a towel and quickly ran back inside shutting the door in the jounin's face. _Wow, you really care about him, don't you? I can see why he trusts you, you've always been there for him…_ Kakashi couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy at the younger male for having Naruto's complete trust, but he knew the man had earned it. As he felt a chakra appearing at the door again he moved further away from it just in time to see it slam right passed the spot where he'd just been standing and into the wall, revealing a fully dressed Iruka who seemed ready to leave.

"Oh, Kakashi, I figured you'd already left. Did I hit you? I'm sorry if I did." The chunin was fumbling with his keys as he locked the door, then smiled at Kakashi before he started running, quickly taking off to the rooftops, hurrying to the hospital.

--

Naruto was lying there in his hospital bed, Tsunade watching the boy as he slept. The state he was in resembled his coma, but the difference was that now he moved in his sleep, even spoke at occasions, and his chakra felt different and lighter.

"Ngh…" A groan escaped the blonde's throat as his hands came to rest over his eyes, rubbing them repeatedly until the white light that seemed to blind him turned into actual colors, his eyes no longer burning.

"Good morning, Naruto." A kind, familiar voice sounded as he opened his eyes, looking around. He quickly caught sight of Tsunade, smiling brightly at her, secretly wishing that instead of her the person sitting next to his bed was Kakashi. Although he'd been asleep for some time he highly doubted that he'd gotten any real rest, his mind to preoccupied with the aforementioned male.

"Hiya, Obaa-chan." Naruto looked into the woman's eyes just to see concern being replaced with joy and relief. "Do you have any food?" A loud growl sounded from the blonde's stomach as he spoke as if to underline what he'd said

Tsunade couldn't believe the boy, he'd been out for over a month and the first thing he did when he woke up was ask for food. But she did understand him; he must be starving as much as he usually ate. "Well, I have some right here, if you ask nicely…" the woman chuckled, she'd known he'd be hungry when he woke up and so she'd brought some fruits and other foods for the boy, handing over a basket full of edibles to him.

"Arigatou!" A large smile settled on the blonde's face before he started digging in on the food, Tsunade was surprised he didn't kill himself eating at the pace he did, finishing the whole basked in little more than 10 minutes.

"That was good!"

"You were quite hungry, weren't you?"

"Mhm! Of course I was, I haven't eaten in a while, now have ah… IRUKA!"

The brown-skinned chunin had barely opened the door to Naruto's room, his name being called so loud that all of Konoha could probably hear it.

"Naruto, how are you?" Iruka was in super-mother hen mode as he walked over to Naruto and started drying the stains off his face and combing through the unruly blonde locks with his fingers. "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling great, Iruka, and Tsunade brought me all this great food and… Nevermind. How are you doing?" Naruto remembered the sobs and pleas from his former sensei and only 'family' as he was in the coma, he'd been worried about the male no matter how bad he was at doing anything about it.

"I'm just fine, it's you that's been in a coma…" Iruka smiled, it would seem that the blonde was back to his old self, the contagious grin plastered across his face.

"That's good. So you haven't been too worried, then?" Naruto poked Iruka gently in the shoulder and grinned, this time it wasn't real. He knew just how worried the chunin had been, but he had to play pretend for just a little while longer, his façade would only fall when he wanted it too. "How long was I out?" Naruto suddenly realized the fact that he had no idea, looking to Tsunade to give him an answer.

"Let's see, how long has it been…?" It was more as if the woman was talking to herself as she started pulling the fingers of her hand back obviously using them to count. "Well, a month and some days, need any more detail?"

The blonde shook his head and let a loud yawn, smiling at the two people in the room with him. "Well, I'm getting kind of tired, is it ok if I go back to sleep now?"

Tsunade chuckled, as did Iruka, the boy certainly did have a heart for sleeping. "Yeah, I want to run a few tests on you later, though, just to make sure there's nothing wrong with you. Well, we'll leave you to your rest now, but don't be expecting too much as there are probably a bunch of people who want to see you." She smiled, even as she spoke the boy had fallen into slumberland.

When Tsunade was done speaking, she and Iruka left the room, Iruka stopping her as they were only meters down the hall.

"What do you mean 'check to see that there's nothing wrong'? I though he was ok…" She'd known that Iruka could be naïve at times, but she hadn't been expecting the questions.

"Iruka, the boy's just woken up from a coma, there are tons of things that _could_ be wrong with him, both mentally and physically, but there probably isn't, it's just for safety's sake – we do it with anyone who's been out for too long or who's been in a coma…" It was easy to see that the male calmed down, his face seeming much calmer again and his eyes no longer displaying fear.

"Sou ka… Well, I have to go, I've promised to meet someone in a couple of minutes, I don't want to be late."

"I suppose I have to get back to my Hokage duties too, I'll see you around I suppose, Iruka." The woman smiled, it was nice to know that the boy had people who cared so much about him as the chunin did, people who were always there for him. Iruka waved at her until he rounded a corner, then hurried away, the Hokage walking slowly back to her office in the nice, sunny weather.

--

"Did ya hear, Naruto's awake?" Shikamaru sighed happily as the dog-nin grinned widely, the Inuzuka had just gotten word from Hinata that Naruto had come out of his coma, and when he ran into Shikamaru on his way to the hospital he had to tell him.

"He is? I'm glad, that's good to hear." Shikamaru was quite deep in though when Kiba approached him, which was the reason for his distantness.

"Aren't you gonna be more enthusiastic than that? Well, me and Akamaru are going there to see him now, do you wanna come with?" Kiba's enthusiasm was quite contagious and Shikamaru smiled, he'd actually been thinking about the blonde when Kiba shook him from his thoughts, well, the blonde and… another blond.

"Yeah, sure, I'll join you, I haven't been there this week at all, so I guess I owe him, ne?" Kiba grinned even broader as the two shinobi and the dog walked through the quite calm streets of Konoha with direction for the hospital.

--

Iruka and Shizune were at a small bar not so far from Iruka's apartment, the local Shinobi hangout, called the Snare (A/N: I seriously couldn't think of anything better from the lack of sleep I've been getting lately…) each with a half drunk pint standing on the table before them. The two had been talking about any random things that popped into their hands until the topic of Naruto came up.

"So, how is he? I heard he woke up today." A big smile formed on Iruka's face, Shizune smiling back at him, her big, black eyes locked on his.

"He's fine, back to his old self it would seem…" Iruka let out a little chuckle as he though about the boy.

"What?"

"No, nothing really, it was just that the first thing he did when he saw Tsunade was ask for food, it's so typical of him." The kunoichi laughed back at him, it really was typical for the blonde. The smile on Iruka's face as he talked about the blonde was breath taking, she found herself wishing that he'd smile like that for her sake, too.

"Well, how about you then, are you taking on your usual missions again or will you stay just a teacher for a little while longer?" Secretly, Shizune was hoping for the latter, she'd seen much more of the tan male lately, and she was enjoying his company.

"Well, I'll be taking on missions again next week, but only the shorter ones that should be three days at the longest I think, I don't really want to leave Naruto alone for too long at a time, that and there's the kids, the genin exams are in not too long, I feel like I should be here to help them out, you know…" Iruka, she had to admit, was probably the most selfless person she'd ever met, he put everyone, and especially Naruto, before himself.

"Sou ka, well, I guess you've got lot's to do, then?" There was something in her voice, something distant, that Iruka noticed, as he kept speaking.

"Well, yeah, but I've got a little time of so…" Iruka was cut short as the slightly younger woman took his hand in hers.

"Would you go on a date with me? Okay, I know this is so immature and all and It's really embarrassing, but I… There's something about you." He returned the light squeeze she was giving his hand, smiling brightly.

"Yes, of course, how's Thursday night for you?"

"That would be perfect," Shizune nodded enthusiastically.

"I'll pick you up at 9, is that ok?" another nod from the kunoichi as the two sat there talking about everything, drinking the rest of their beers.

--

Kakashi had been sitting by the boy's bed for hours, he'd arrived just as Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru were leaving. He knew he didn't have to be here, knew that he could easily get someone to call for him or post one of his nin dog's to watch over the blonde but he wanted to be there, and if Naruto woke up he didn't want to miss a minute of his time.

Minutes passed as he sat still, the sun slowly setting on the horizon outside, the only movement he made was his hand playing in the blonde, silky hair, waiting for those beautiful eyes to open. He'd only felt this way once before, and that was towards Rin. He hadn't admitted it at the time, something which he had regretted for the most part of his life, but he'd loved her. He'd loved her and she'd loved him, yet due to his cold nature he hadn't let anything happen, maybe if he had she'd still be alive, maybe Obito would…

Blue eyes fluttered then slowly, trying to get used to the light, opened revealing the cerulean depths that Kakashi had been thinking about not too long ago looking straight at him.

"You're here?" For some reason it seemed more like a question, as if the boy hadn't been expecting him to be there.

"I said I loved you, Naruto, didn't you think I'd be here?" He tried to hide the hurt he felt due to the boy's distrust, but he knew he probably deserved what he got.

"It's just… every time you've chosen others over me. Earlier you would have taken weeks just to come see me, but now you're here. It's almost too good to believe, like it's just a dream.

"Well, it's not a dream, Naruto, and you better get used to it, cause I'll be here. I've requested not to be sent on any long missions before you're well, and I'm going to be here for you no matter what." _I'm sorry I was never here before, I wish I could take it all back, all those things I've done, if it would make you really smile…_

Reaching out his hand he lightly traced his fingers across Kakashi's mask covered face, he had to assure himself that this wasn't all just a dream, that every time he woke he'd see the man and that he wouldn't just leave him when he pleased.

"You're really here…" Kakashi couldn't take it anymore, he knew he'd done nothing to deserve the teen's trust, but this cold front he was putting up was too much for even the jounin, as he looked into those blue eyes.

"Is there anything I could do to make you trust me even just a little bit?" He bit his lower lip unconsciously, keeping his focus on Naruto's distant eyes. He knew he'd have to work for it, but he'd gain the boy's trust no matter what.

"Show me your face." It wasn't a question, and Kakashi didn't hesitate to comply, reaching his hands up and gently pulling down his mask.

The mask. Why Kakashi wore it would forever be a mystery to the blonde, the man was perfection. Naruto had never seen anything more beautiful in his life, the scar that went across his eye and all his other marks and scars only seemed to enhance the beauty. His two mismatched eyes looked at the boy seeming to search for something. Naruto's hands reached out to touch the face, cupping it gently and stroking the calloused yet soft skin with his thumbs as red and charcoal eyes kept searching his for something he didn't know.

"Do you trust me?" The question surprised the Naruto, he hadn't been expecting it. He wanted to answer yes, wanted everything to be perfect from the start, but he knew that by doing so he would be lying to both himself and Kakashi, deciding to go with the truth.

"No." Kakashi visibly flinched at the response. What had happened to the happy, trusting, carefree boy he used to know? The truth was, he knew, he knew all the horrible things that had happened to the boy and quite soon he'd have to confront him about it, but not yet. "But in time I could. I'm just not ready to really trust anyone but those who already have my trust at the moment, but I'm sure that if you're willing to bare with me I'll learn to trust you…" The boy's smile seemed to take away all bad things in the world, radiating the kind innocence and kindness that the blonde used to possess before _everything_.

"I suppose you're right not to, I haven done anything to prove myself, have I?" Kakashi was sad to admit it, but he knew it was true; he'd never really done anything to deserve Naruto's trust.

"Kakashi…" Naruto could see that the jounin felt out of his element, he looked troubled, almost sad, his eyes again meeting Naruto's as the boy spoke. The blonde couldn't help but shudder as Kakashi's warm breath blew over his face, as he they spoke they'd unconsciously moved closer and closer until their faces were now only inches apart. Not able to resist the temptation any longer, Kakashi closed the distance, landing a gentle kiss on soft, pink lips.

Naruto was stunned, paralyzed as Kakashi's lips met his, his body wanted it so much but in the back of his mind something was screaming at him. Kakashi's hands moved behind his back and neck as they held him close, the kiss seeming so passionate and loving though it was close to one-sided. Naruto had no idea what to do, due to his _issues_ with intimacy he'd never been with anyone before, and he'd never even consensually kissed another. He was scared, he wanted to respond to the kiss, but he didn't know how. Suddenly, something in his mind snapped, the hands on his back suddenly felt colder, the lips thinner, the skin of the male touching him, kissing him, paler. All he could feel was Sasuke, and when he opened his eyes all he could see was Sasuke.

"Don't please…. D-Don't do this again, don't hurt me please…" The blonde pulled back, pushing Kakashi away, he looked fully terrified as fear shone from his cerulean eyes.

"Naruto…" Kakashi was unsure of what to do, desperate to get Naruto back and furious with himself for having done something so stupid. "Naruto' it's not Sasuke, it's me, it's not him. I'm Kakashi, Naruto, please listen… I'm not going to hurt you, I promise… I'm so sorry." He wanted to hit himself, his mind screaming at him for having done something so thoughtless as the blue eyes locked onto his, calming down.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…" Kakashi shushed him, holding the boy to his chest, wrapping his strong arms around him.

"Don't be sorry, Naruto, it's my fault, I shouldn't have…"

"Wait, why'd you say you weren't Sasuke?" Kakashi looked dumbstruck, he'd just admitted he knew.

Naruto was getting a growing feeling that something was wrong, Kakashi couldn't simply have guessed at a name… _How do you know, Kakashi? And why, why do you have to know… I didn't want you to know that side of me, and since you do, why are you still here? Why don't you leave me, the monster that I am, I am not worthy of you, or anyone for that matter…_


	12. Chapter 12

"It's better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust

**Inspiration:** "It's better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust." – Samuel Johnson

"This moment contains all moments" – C. S. Lewis

**Disclaimer:** And again: I do not own Naruto, but when Itachi and Jiraiya both return and Naruto ends up with Kakashi you can all expect that it's my doing! Either that or that series end's with everyone dying except for Kotetsu and Izuma standing at some random cliff and looking out at Konoha in complete turmoil, just cause they're that cool!

**Random Rambling:** 10 pages, written mostly in one night… And my mom woke me up early… ugh, I'm a zombie right now…

Damn, I should really be researching for my oral English exam tomorrow… I've gotta talk about the Aborigines and why the prime minister of Australia apologized to them on the 13th of February – and we haven't even mentioned aborigines in English class cause out English teacher sucks – seriously, I'm way better than him… Not that it's hard to find or anything, but it's just boring to research when I have a bunch of ideas wanting to get down on digital paper (aka word)…

Never mind that, here's the new chapter for you all

**Reviews**, darlings!

**Edit: **I changed the dialogue between Ino and Sakura a bit – thank you, **Anciie**, for noting me about it ;)

**Chapter 12**

"…Damn… Damn…. Damn it…" The blonde had been walking in circles, repeating the same words over and over for ages it seemed, his nails digging into his palms from how hard his fists were clenched.

"What is it, kit? Spit out." Naruto looked up as the fox spoke to him sternly, red eyes meeting his blue in a staring contest that lasted no more than seconds before Naruto pulled out, settling on the ground before he started to talk.

"Kakashi kissed me and I didn't kiss him back." The boy's voice was calm, unlike his mind, so far, yet he felt that if the kyuubi made him tell more it wouldn't be.

"Why didn't you, kit?" That was one hell of a good question, Naruto thought, as he tried to figure out exactly why he hadn't returned the kiss. "Or rather, what stopped you?" Naruto froze, a slight shiver running down his spine as he remembered what had happened.

_ Flashback ­_

_Kakashi's lips were locked on his in a soft, passionate kiss, his body wanting it so badly but his mind telling him to stop, the older man's arms surrounding him in a loving embrace. _

_He felt so good, safe, loved even, but then everything changed. Every sensation that had felt so wonderful suddenly seemed to alter; Kakashi's hands on his back suddenly feeling cold, his skin paling, lips thinning until all Naruto could see and feel was Sasuke, as he pushed and kicked Kakashi to get him away, terrified. _

_Naruto was so scared that he'd started pleading with Sasuke to stop hurting him, not realizing that the male was, in reality, Kakashi until the jounin had tried to get through to him for over a minute, trying to calm him down and apologizing to him. _

_Flashback end_

"I just... He... When he kissed me it felt so right, my whole body told me to kiss him back, but my mind was shouting at me not too... I really wanted to return the kiss, but just before I was about to everything changed, he changed... It was like he turned into Sasuke, and all I could feel and see was _him_... I just couldn't take it and then I pushed him away..." The blonde looked down, his blue eyes displaying the worry he felt clearly. "He must hate me now, or then he thinks that I hate him..."

"Kit, seriously, you've got to believe in yourself more, the man said he loves you and he meant it, just get your head around that fact. As for your body and mind reacting differently to things, I can't do anything about that, you'll have to sort it out yourself..." The fox made a deep growl, then turned it's back on the blonde and walked further into it's cage.

"But then he said that... Well, never mind, but he knows about Sasuke, the others too since it's linked, you know..." A silent tear found it's way down Naruto's cheek as he tried to block the images springing to mind when he thought of the _incident_, the teen not bothering to wipe it away. "I'm too dirty for him, Kyuubi, I don't deserve someone like him..."

The blonde trailed off to his innermost thoughts and the large fox knew that no matter what it said it's words wouldn't reach him, he was too far gone into his own mind, but the kid really needed to have more faith in both himself and others, if he kept going like this he was headed only one way, and that was down.

--

"So you basically, without warning, kissed a rape victim? It's not strange he freaked, are you STUPID you damn..." A string of curses followed as Kakashi simply stood there, having no choice but to listen to the white haired sannin, knowing that everything he said was true.

"Yes. I don't know what I was thinking, really, I've mentally beaten myself for it a million times though I suppose that doesn't help much..." Jiraiya's expression turned to disbelief, a loud sigh escaping him.

"No, it doesn't. Didn't I tell you to be careful, Hatake, if you dare to hurt that boy in any way I will personally... Well, that would be getting off track, but beware" the sannin raised his eyebrows and Kakashi mentally cringed, he'd never seen the toad sage this upset before, though what had he expected, the man was like a father to Naruto, the only one closer to him would probably be Iruka. "Never mind, but you better be careful you i-di-ot, if you keep going like you are he won't be able to take it for long."

Again Kakashi had to face that everything the older man said was true, hating himself for how thoughtless he had been giving in to the moment, hoping that broken could be easily fixed when, of course, it couldn't. "I know, Jiraiya, and I messed up big time..." the jounin's tone of voice was casual, but his mind was in complete turmoil. "How bad do you think I made things?" It was highly unlike the jounin to ask anyone for advice or help, but he was desperate to make things work with Naruto, willing even to ask the help of his favourite author.

"Well, what you did was way past stupid, there's no way around that, but he, too, wants it to work, so I wouldn't say you're screwed yet. You better tread carefully though, or you might just fall down from whatever cloud it is you're seemingly living on, baka. " The sannin, who usually enjoyed the perverted scarecrow's company very much, was at the moment too pissed to bother with any form of politeness or sugar-coating of the truth, barely able to comprehend how a man as smart as Kakashi could have done something as stupid as he had. Kakashi himself was painfully aware of the stupidity of what he had done; desperately wishing he could go back in time to change it though he knew that was impossible.

The two men stood in silence, a very awkward silence, before Kakashi spoke again, this time his voice had changed, a serious tone taking over for his usually carefree one.

"He knows." He didn't have to say more as Jiraiya could easily understand what the jounin was talking about from the two words and the look on his face.

"Well, what did you expect? The boy's not stupid and you're obviously not too smart, he was bound to find out sooner or later. How'd he react?" The sannin was calm, he had known this was coming all along but he still wasn't sure of how his blonde student had handled it.

"He seemed to take it well. He didn't really directly say that he knew I knew, but I accidentally said that... you know... that I wasn't Sasuke, and then he asked why I used that particular name..."

_Flashback_

_Soon after Kakashi's lips touched the blonde's, fists were thrown at him, feet kicking him away. Suddenly he could hear the teen's voice, pleas and prayers being chanted, his voice terrified._

_He tried for quite some time to calm the blonde down, not succeeding; eventually the words he never meant to say slipped his mouth. _

"_I'm not him, Naruto, I'm not Sasuke:"_

_When the blonde regained his composure, realizing he was safe, he suddenly comprehended the words the Jounin had used. 'I'm not Sasuke'... He knew. _

_Naruto looked at him, studying his eyes for whatever had made him say that. _

"_Why'd you say 'I'm not Sasuke'?" Naruto's cerulean orbs were locked on his; he needed to hear the truth. _

"_I... well, you... I know it all, Naruto. I know what they did to you, what __**he**__ did, I'm so sorry..."_

_And awkward silence followed; neither male having anything to say as what could have been minutes or hours passed until Naruto spoke again. _

"_You should go, I need to think." It was partially the truth, but mostly the blonde just wanted his ex-sensei to leave so he wouldn't break into pieces right there and then, that was not something he wanted the older male to see. _

"_Okay," Kakashi could understand the blonde's anger, deciding not to fight him. "Again, I'm sorry. Ja." With a wave of his hand and then some strange symbol he disappeared, only leaving a small cloud of gray smoke in his wake as evidence he was ever there. _

_Flashback end_

"Sou ka... Well, I suppose I'll go visit him now, then, clarify a few things with him. Ja ne." Jiraiya was indeed going to 'clarify' some things with the blonde, like what, exactly, Kakashi meant to him, and he was also going to tell him how Kakashi knew and properly apologize for having broken the boy's promise. Then he'd try to find out what that scum Itachi had done to the boy, he had a rough idea, but he'd rather not even think it until he was sure.

"Ja." Kakashi muttered as the two males headed in different directions, Jiraiya for the hospital to talk to his blonde student, Kakashi to the memorial stone to talk to his loved ones.

_--_

"Kid" Naruto heard a familiar voice as he blinked frantically before he started rubbing his eyes, adapting slowly to the bright light that filled the white room.

"How are you?" As he regained his sight Naruto could make out the figure standing by his window, pulling back the heavy, cream coloured curtain to let in even more light.

"Ero-sennin? Good morning!" The blonde sat up in his bed, the beeps from the heart-monitor coming just a little faster as he moved. "I'm good... Do you know when I'll get out of this place? I'm getting really tired of being here, it's so boring!" Naruto pulled the last word out as much as he could, emphasizing just how boring the hospital was.

"That's good. Well, it shouldn't be too long, I suppose, kid, but I'm not sure. Why don't you ask Tsunade the next time you see her. She must be here all the time, am I right?"

"Yeah, she keeps running all these weird tests on me and stuff, talking about all this fancy medical stuff that I don't understand until I fall asleep..." Both males chuckled, picturing Tsunade's annoyed look from whenever they didn't listen too her.

"Ne, Naruto, I talked to Kakashi earlier..." Naruto paled visibly, embarrassed to the point that he just wanted to sink into the ground and worried that the jounin didn't want anything to do with him, silently awaiting his verdict. "Naruto, are you ok?" The blonde had completely fallen out, only snapping back to attention as Jiraiya raised his voice.

"Ha-Hai."

"How do you feel about him, Naruto?" Silence followed, the blonde unsure of what the elder meant, choosing not to respond as a puzzled look reached his face. "What, exactly, does he mean to you?"

Naruto remained silent, this time, however, silent so that he could figure out what to answer. He wasn't even sure himself what his feelings towards Kakashi were. After several minutes had passed the blonde lifted his gaze to Jiraiya's, his voice quite low and serious, much unlike how he usually sounded.

"I... I don't know, really, it's just..." Jiraiya gave a light not telling the boy to continue. "I'm not sure what it is that I feel towards him, but it's _something_. It's like, every time we're together my hearts beats faster and I just really want to get to know him, for him to know me. Whenever he's not here I long for him for some strange reason I don't even understand, and when he sits here with me I wish he'd never leave." Again Naruto paused, choosing his words with care. "I think about him all the time, it's like I can't get him off my mind, and I constantly worry that he won't come back or that it's all just a dream, cause I really want for it to be real..."

"I see..." Jiraiya smiled gently, knowingly at the blonde, glad he was able to get the teen to open up. "He told me about the kiss... If that's how you feel, Naruto, what happened? What made you push him away?" The teen shuddered just at the thought, he'd rather not remember. As he told the toad sage just what had happened he realized just how glad he was that there was at least one person whom he could speak about anything with, who would always be there for him.

"... And I really, really regret telling him to leave, I just hope he doesn't hate me now..." The blonde let his guard down completely for the first time in so long, silent tears streaking his cheeks, falling rhythmically onto the white hospital sheets.

"He doesn't hate you, kid, he's worried about you. I talked to him earlier today and he was just as scared as you, asking me if you hated him or if he still had a chance with you." Noticing how the blonde's expression looked even more troubled he quickly added "And I told him he did, then I left to come here." Naruto's expression immediately seemed more relaxed, a small smile even gracing his lips.

"Thank you, ero-sennin..."

"One more thing, Naruto," Jiraiya didn't want to speak, but he knew he had to – if he didn't tell the blonde the truth the kid may never trust him again. "It was me who told him. I'm sorry for breaking the promise I made you, but I..."

"It was you who told him? Damn, I should have known, who else...?" Jiraiya flinched, he'd never imagined it would hurt so much hearing the blonde's angry voice directed at him.

"I had to, Naruto, and I know that even that isn't reason enough, but I..." The sannin wasn't used to being out of words, the coldness that he felt coming from Naruto getting to him, making him loose his speech. "I was afraid you'd never wake up kid, and I'd do near anything to get you back..."

"Don't... Please stop apologizing, Jiraiya..." Naruto lifted a hand to his lips, making a gentle hushing sound. "I just realized that if you didn't say that then... I'd have to tell him sooner or later, right? Now he at least knows why what happened happened when he kissed me, and I won't have to tell him all that myself, so in a way you've saved me from having to speak of that damned..."

"Naruto..." Jiraiya was in awe at how much more mature the boy had become since his younger years, just now realizing that if the boy was even able to see why he did what he did something had changed about him; if it was for better of for worse, Jiraiya didn't know.

A kind smile settled on Naruto's face, his blue eyes locking onto Jiraiya's, the male again attempting to apologize for betraying the blonde's trust.

"You're forgiven. Just... don't go around telling _all_ of my secrets, ok?"

"Thank you, kid, and I won't..." Feeling that the conversation was over and that asking about Itachi was something he should do later the sannin gave Naruto a friendly smile, then walked out of the tiny hospital room waving to the blonde who looked at him until he turned a corner, then proceeded to look out the window at his beloved Konoha.

--

Shizune was annoyed, very annoyed. She was a very impatient person and it was already 9.15 pm which meant that Iruka was late to pick her up by a quarter of an hour already. As she was about to throw her coffee-mug, which was the breakable thing closest to her, into a wall she heard three knocks on her door, rushing to see who it was.

"I'm so sorry, I got held up by some of the kids from the academy on my way here…" Iruka immediately stopped speaking as he noticed the killing intent seeming to radiate from the normally calm, kind woman before him, backing away from her slowly.

As she realized what he'd said, knowing how kids could be, she smiled kindly, the literally killer aura that had surrounded her before fading as she laughed, picturing the adorable chuunin being tackled by a bunch of soon-to-be genin. "That's okay… W-Want to come inside?" she stuttered slightly as she noticed just how gorgeous the tan male looked when he was in casual clothes, the beige band tee he was wearing making his skin look even more tanned, his jeans just right to show of that gorgeous ass of his…

"I would, but I've kinda made other plans for tonight, maybe later tonight?" Shizune blushed slightly - she'd only known the male, who seemed sweet and quite shy for a short while, not expecting his suggestive response – a nervous laugh escaping her lips.

"Shall we head out then, I can't wait to see where you're taking me" As she smiled, Iruka did too, he had to admit, the woman looked damned good in her tight fitting brown top and knee length bohemian skirt that showed just enough of her lean legs.

After walking for about 20 minutes, small talk and flirting making it seem much less, the two had arrived at Iruka's intended destination, a small club in central Konoha. The place seemed quite run down, Shizune thought, as they walked towards it, the sign above the door reading 'Night Watch' in blue neon letters and the whole building gave of a quite bad first impression.

"You seem skeptic…" Iruka looked at her. "Most people do, but you'll change your view on this place once we go inside, now come!" The chunin grabbed her hand and she let herself get dragged in the door and down a flight of stars, when they reached the bottom what she saw was way past her expectations.

The place was gorgeous, the whole inventory was in some sort of dark wood, the walls were made of rough bricks, and right across the large room from the stairs was the bar, gently lighted, looking like it was taken right out of some movie. As she looked around she could see a few familiar faces in the local like Genma, Raidou, Kotetsu and Izumo sitting at one table to the side of the room, Asuma and Kurenai at another, but also many unfamiliar which she made out to be civilians, also noting the grand dance floor in the middle of the room.

"This place is…"

"Amazing, I know. I love it here." Shizune was stunned as she let herself get taken to a small corner table, only when she sat down did she realize how small the table was, how close she got to Iruka.

"How'd you find this place?" Iruka smiled gently at her.

"Back when I was little and my parents were still alive I used to come here all the time," A strange look passed his eyes as he spoke of the place, something resembling nostalgia."The guy who runs it was my dad's friend. After they died I kept coming here, this place is like a second home to me or something, I've spent so much time here…" Touched by Iruka's story, Shizune took hold of his hand, squeezing it lightly.

"Wow…" She was speechless, happy that Iruka had taken her to someplace that seemed to mean quite a lot to him.

"Yo, Takeo, bring us something to drink, will you?" The man at the bar smiled at Iruka, waving his hand in reply then walking to the other end of the bar to look for something.

Within a short while a bottle of champagne had been placed on their table along with two glasses, Iruka carefully filling Shizune's before his own, then proceeding to empty it slowly.

After both had emptied their second glass, talking and flirting the whole evening, Iruka got to his feet, stylishly bowing down to Shizune as he asked her to dance. The two walked slowly over to the dance floor where some other couples were dancing to the upbeat song playing on the stereo which just ended as the two reached the floor, changing into a slow, jazzy tune.

Iruka gently put his hands around Shizune's waist, her hands falling in place around his neck as they danced slowly along with the song, whispering sweet things to each other as they were so close they could feel the other's heartbeat, Shizune still shocked at how different the teacher was from her first impression of him, getting more impressed by the second. As the song came to and end the brunette chuunin pulled his date even closer, and as she lifted her gaze to look into his eyes his lips met hers, kissing her passionately.

--

"Oh, Ino, did you hear who just started dating?" Sakura smiled broadly, sure that for once she was the first to know the latest gossip.

"You mean Iruka and Shizune? Yeah, I saw them earlier tonight when I was on my way here, seemed like they were headed somewhere, probably for a date or something…" The pink haired kunoichi's smile faded, again Ino knew everything before her.

"It just seems like after Sasuke left there's not really anyone left in this village… I mean, there _is_ Neji, but he's mine," She grinned happily. "Then there's Shino, who hardly ever talks to people, Lee, but he's Lee, and Kiba, who's with Hinata – how the hell did she get a date before you?"

"I know" The blonde looked slightly puzzled for a while, then spoke again. "And there's also Shikamaru and Chouji, but I just couldn't date them… that and I think Shikamaru's got the hots for that Suna girl – what's her name – Temari…"

"Mhm, but I feel like we're forgetting someone…"

"You should be ashamed of yourself, forgetting your own teammate!" Sakura was ashamed as she realized who it was she'd forgot, Naruto. "And he's actually kinda hot, that tanned skin and oh, those muscles…" Ino smirked as she pictured herself and the blonde male in various questionable positions, sighing at the reality that that would very likely not happen.

"I suppose…" Sakura smiled. Her teammate really had changed since their genin days, he'd been a whole different person ever since he returned from his training with Jiraiya. It wasn't only his body that had changed, though it had, a lot, but also his personality; he'd become quieter, more mature it seemed, though she wouldn't know, they hadn't talked to much lately even though they were on they same team and now Sakura slightly regretting the way she'd always treated him. "Oh, speaking of, have you been to see him at all?"

"Yeah, I was there only day's ago, but he was asleep, so I only stayed for a short while, I left some flowers though, he probably saw them when he woke up…" After a brief pause she looked at Sakura. "You?"

"Mm, I've been there quite often" Quite often was an understatement, every day being the truth – by now the pink haired kunoichi could probably walk from the hospital entrance to Naruto's room blindfolded. "He's been asleep every time though, but I'm just glad he's out of the coma…"

"Yeah, that's good. Hey, what do you say we go see him tomorrow, eh?" Ino lifted her gaze just in time to see Sakura packing together her things. "You leaving?"

"I'd love to go tomorrow, sure, and yeah. I have the night shift at the hospital tonight so if I wanna have time to go home first and drop my stuff I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow then, right?" Ino smiled.

"Yeah, want me to walk you to the door?" The two girls had been in the Yamanaka residence for their weekly gossip meet, the house being quite big Ino asked out of politeness just in case Sakura wasn't sure how to get out.

"Nah, I'll be fine, night, Ino."

"Good night." Sakura was already halfway out the door to Ino's room as she heard the blonde, waving her hand at the girl, then hurrying through all the corridors of the large house, continuing to walk quickly till she reached her own apartment.

--

"So he'll be out soon?" Kakashi was in Tsunade's office, inquiring about a certain, blonde boy currently a patient of the Konoha hospital. When he got the answers he wanted he was going to go see Naruto.

"Yeah, he could be out in two days if nothing comes up, but he won't be on mission duty until he's back in routine with training and all though, so probably a month at least…"

"Sou ka… Hokage, may I request to be taken off any long missions or assignments until he is completely well again, I would like to be able to watch over him, be there for him now that he needs it." Tsunade looked positively bamboozled, it was highly unlike Kakashi to seemingly care this much about someone, but if he was going to turn human again she wouldn't be the one to stop him, the man hadn't let himself feel for so long, she knew, and she'd known him since he was just a boy.

"Of course, Kakashi. Now if that was all I would like to get some sleep, I've had a long day, just go see him already." Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, nodding to Tsunade before he headed out her window, jumping across the rooftops until he reached his destination, Naruto's room.

Seeing Naruto was awake he knocked his window until he had the boy's attention, motioning for him to come and open the window, the boy slowly getting out of his bed on still unsteady legs, walking slowly over and letting Kakashi in, then carefully closing the window again. As he was walking back to his bed Naruto lost his balance, falling to the ground, but just before he met the floor he found himself caught in Kakashi's strong arms, safe and sound against the elder's chest.

"Are you alright, Naruto?"

"Y-yes, thank you, Kakashi…" As he lifted his gaze, Naruto found himself lost within his ex-sensei's eyes, unable to tear his own away from them.

He felt something soft appear underneath him, realizing that Kakashi had carried him back to his bed and laid him down, reaching out for the male as he walked a couple of steps away, grabbing a hold of his hand just before it was out of reach. The jounin turned, facing him, then walked back to his side, sitting down on his bed and taking the teen's hand in his.

"How are you, Naruto?" The question came as a surprise to Naruto, the serious tone of Kakashi's voice telling him the male wasn't only asking if he was ok right there an then, but if he _really_ was fine.

"Really, Kakashi, I'm not sure. I've never felt as vulnerable as I feel right now," the blonde hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to put what he was about to say, "but I've never felt as whole either, and that's thanks to you, I think."

Kakashi smiled, Naruto could tell even though the male was again wearing his mask, wanting to see the man's face once again he reached his hand's to his face and pulled down the piece of cloth covering it, smiling as the handsome face was once again revealed to him. _I won't make you talk, Naruto, you've just started opening up to me, and if you want to you will tell me everything I need to know in time._ Kakashi had just realized that if he tried to make the boy talk, it would get him nowhere; reaching the conclusion that instead he would wait for the boy to tell him.

Suddenly he could feel the weight of the bed shift, only snapping out of his thoughts in time to see Naruto's face inches from his, the distance quickly closing until Naruto placed a brief, soft kiss on his lips, then pulled back.

Kakashi was about to speak when Naruto put a finger to his lips, shushing him. "I don't dare to try anything longer in case… Well, in case what happened last time repeats itself, but I want you, Kakashi. I need you…"

"Naruto…"

The two males sat in silence, Kakashi's fingers running through Naruto's hair, Naruto's tracing the features of the jounin's face and playing with his silvery locks until they both fell asleep, the only thing separating them; a white hospital sheet and their respective sets of clothes.


	13. Note

Note:

This is just a **note**.  
I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've had a writer's block and I figured I'd wait till it passed instead of writing crappy chapters for you guys since I know how I hate it myself…

The next chapter, on a good note, is soon finished, and once it's complete and betaed I'll get it posted, just wait a little longer, ok?

That was all, but I figured I'd tell you since it's been over a month since last I updated…

Oh yes, and one question which I hope you will answer; how would you feel about Sasuke returning to the village later on, cause there is this little plot bunny that keeps bugging me that tells me to get him back there… Does that sound good?

Oh, and I'm considering editing the earlier chapter of the fic, especially the three first, would you reread them if I improved them?


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** You all know this, and so do I and eeeeveryone else on this site, there's a reason it's called FANfiction, but here goes: No, Naruto is still not mine. Now you are told what you already knew, so read on

**Random Rambling: **Sorry it took so long for me to post this chapter, but here it is. Oh, and please read the note that is before this and tell me what you think of the ideas there, I need to hear ) Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

**Last Chapter: **Jiraiya and Naruto talk to clarify some thing, Iruka goes on a date with Shizune (they kiss!), and a KakaNaru moment at the end which ends with the two falling asleep on Naruto's hospital bed… Read on to see what happens

**--**

**Chapter 13**

It was still in the early morning hours when Sakura was checking up on her patients one final time before her shift was over, she only had three rooms left now. Stopping a short while to enjoy the beauty of the sunrise through a window, the sky painted golden and red, she yawned, she'd been working all night and she really needed some sleep.

Dragging herself down one of the long, white corridors of the Konoha hospital she raised her arms in the air, stretching her tired muscles to get some energy, then let them fall back down, one of her hands settling on a silver door handle. The door to which the handle belonged was as white as the corridor, on the door, in white letters on a black board, the name Uzumaki Naruto was written.

She gently opened the door not to make any noise in the highly likely case that the blonde was still asleep, but as she entered the room she couldn't stop herself from yelling at her former sensei who was lying behind Naruto in the bed, his arms draped around the boy protectively.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU PERVERT!" Sakura didn't care that she probably woke the whole hospital, and likely also the population living within 10 miles of the building, she couldn't believe that damn…

"Morning, Sakura, What are you yelling for?" Kakashi's droopy eye met hers, the man quickly pulling up his mask before she even realized he hadn't been wearing it, his voice completely normal.

"What are you doing with Naruto, you pervert? Get away from him or I'll personally see to it that you'll be the one needing a hospital stay!" Kakashi visibly flinched at the girl's threat; he knew how strong she was from personal experience.

"That shouldn't be so hard to tell, should it? Can't you see I'm molesting him?" Kakashi used the only arm he could get free to gesture to the blonde, taking great amusement in how annoyed the pink-haired kunoichi was getting.

"Kakashi!" Her voice was stern, but just as she was about to speak again her eyes met Naruto's, how he'd managed to sleep so long with all the screaming going on was more than either Sakura or Kakashi could comprehend. "Naruto." She smiled at the blonde then returned to glaring hazardously at Kakashi.

Just realizing that there were arms draped around him, a body close to his Naruto started trembling, the feeling of fear spreading quickly throughout him as kicked and screamed, trying to get whoever was behind him away.

"Naruto… Naruto, snap out of it, it's me!" Kakashi somehow managed to turn the boy to face him, cupping his face gently as he tried to calm him. "Naruto, calm down, it's just me, koi."Sakura's jaw dropped to the floor and below if possible, her eyes wide; had Kakashi, her perverted jounin sensei who was always reading those damn Icha Icha books he carried with him everywhere just called sweet, innocent Naruto his koi? _I bet you don't know this, Ino!_ She smirked as she realized that finally she would be first to know, then her jaw dropped yet again, her face turning as red as a ripe strawberry.

Kakashi's mask was down and his lips were locked onto Naruto's in a desperate attempt do calm the blonde, hands clawing at his chest and trying to push him away but he didn't stop. The jounin held the boy even tighter and looked into his terrified blue eyes until they calmed, the boy finally relaxing in his arms.

"'Kashi…" the blonde still looked scared, but not as much any longer. "Sakura-chan?!" When he turned his head to find a drooling Sakura in the doorway he yelled out her name, his eyes widening in shock just like hers.

"I…should go…" Sakura mumbled and excuse so low only she could hear it then ran out into the corridor, completely forgetting her two last patients and running straight to the Yamanaka flower shop where she knew she'd find Ino.

"That was… strange" Kakashi said, his lips forming into a smirk as he pictured Sakura's face again, she'd looked so completely dumbfounded.

"Yeah…" Naruto's voice trailed of as his fingers traced one of the scrapes he'd made on Kakashi's chest when the angst had kicked in, swiping up the drop of blood with his finger and, unsure of why he did it, licked it of. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Naruto, you have you're reasons" Kakashi's eyes met the boy's, his arms having a strong hold of the blonde and pulling him even closer to the elder's chest, the teen relaxing into the embrace.

A while passed before either male spoke, neither of them wanted to break the moment, but Naruto's stomach had never cared for such trivial things, letting out a loud growl at which Kakashi chuckled lightly and Naruto's face turned the color of a tomato.

"I guess I'm hungry" the blonde said, attempting to hide his face behind his hands.

"Seems so," Kakashi smiled and got to his feet. "I'll go get something to eat, I'll be back soon." Naruto nodded and Kakashi walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Once he was out he disappeared in a small puff of smoke only to reappear seconds later outside of the Hokage's office. Walking past the two ANBU guarding the door, Bird and Cat, he nodded a greeting before he entered.

"Naruto's awake; you wanted to talk to him since he's being released tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be by soon, you can tell him that since I assume you're going back there now?" She smiled, waving him off before returning to the paperwork that was mounting up on her desk.

Seconds later Kakashi poofed back to the hospital, to the canteen to be exact, picking up a cup of instant ramen for Naruto and an apple for himself, also grabbing two boxes of orange juice, then walked back up to Naruto's room.

"I'm back"

--

"Hey, Ino, can you take the day off?" Sakura was standing by the checkout in the Yamanaka flower shop, grinning widely. "I've got something real juicy…"

"I was just about to open the shop, but nevermind… I'll be done in like five minutes, I just have to close up, but this better be juicy, my mom's going to kill me" the blonde girl said, she had just been about to open the shop for the day, but she supposed that could wait for a while

About three minutes later the two girls were walking down the street and away from the flower shop, headed for nowhere in particular. Sakura yawned every once in a while, her body was tired from a long night but her mind was wide awake and she couldn't wait to see Ino's expression when she told her.

"So, what was that _juicy_ gossip you had for me, forehead girl?" Ino grinned mockingly; she knew how much the pink-haired girl disliked being insulted for her forehead. The insulted merely scowled at her friend.

"Oh, you have no idea…"

"And that's why you're going to tell me, baka!" Ino was getting impatient, her voice was raised, and Sakura figured it a good moment to drop the bomb.

"Kakashi called Naruto his 'koi'…" Ino's jaw dropped, her eyes widening. "And then they kissed. K-I-S-S-E-D, kissed." The blonde had somehow managed to close her jaw, but drool was running down her cheek, her eyes still as wide.

"Seriously?! Kakashi… and Naruto?!" Ino shouted out loud, disregarding that they were in a quite crowded area. Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "Damn, why are all the good guys always gay?"

"I know! But I so didn't see that coming… I walked in on them this morning when I was doing my rounds, and saw Kakashi lying there with his arms around Naruto, I started yelling at him assuming that he was like… molesting him or something, but when Naruto woke up he seemed terrified and Kakashi calmed him down… then they kissed." Sakura's thoughts drifted off, replaying the kiss in her mind – the scene was surely a drool-worthy one.

"Damn…"

As they kept chatting they realized how many people had heard them, though they had stopped staring by now, but what did they care?

--

I was late afternoon when Naruto heard a knock on his door; Kakashi had just left, so he knew it wasn't the jounin. As the door opened slowly Tsunade walked in to find the teen busy packing the few things he had at the hospital into a small, frog-shaped duffel bag.

"Tsunade baa-chan!" he grinned happily.

"So you're getting ready to go home, huh?" He nodded enthusiastically, his blonde spikes swaying gently with the movement of his head. "How are you doing, Naruto?" she said, only now noticing how pale the boy had gotten after being hospitalized for so long.

"I'm fine, baa-chan," As he spoke her turned his blue eyes away from her again, packing the last of his things; a frog-patterned pajama and an orange and black jacket.

"That's good…" The woman hesitated a while, unsure of how to continue, before she spoke again. "There's something I need to talk to you about." Tsunade's voice, Naruto noticed, was serious as she spoke, the teen looking up to meet a pair of concerned, brown eyes when he'd closed his bag.

"What?"

"You've been hurting yourself." The statement made Naruto flinch slightly; he'd known they'd find out, he just hadn't wanted it to happen, and he'd definitely not wanted a confrontation about it. "Why did you do it? And why hasn't it healed properly?"

"Do you want the long story or the short?" The blonde boy asked, meeting her slightly shocked gaze at his cooperativeness with seemingly confident, blue eyes; though confidence in anything, especially himself, was something he lost long ago along with his virginity. Something that was stolen from him and not yet returned. He wouldn't even try to hide it any longer, not from her. Now both Jiraiya and Kakashi knew, and something in his voice told him that if he didn't speak it would have even more consequences for him than if he told her whatever truth he'd been hiding from her.

"Something in the middle, but I need all the important parts." She looked seriously at him, but her worry shone through, somehow calming him slightly.

"You know when Sasuke defected and we went after him, right? Well, basically my life has been a living hell since then." The blonde looked away from Tsunade's eyes, seemingly finding his fingernails very interesting.

"Was that when it started?" she asked, taking one of his hands in her and squeezing it lightly.

"What? Hurting myself? No. I considered it, but every time I chickened out, I just couldn't do it… I did, uhm… how do I say this? I tried like little stuff, but the hurting was something that started not so long ago, it just all became too much…" he paused, taking a while to decide how to continue before he resumed speaking. "When I fought Sasuke at the Valley of the End I lost, as you know, but contrary to what I told you at the time, that Sasuke left immediately, he stayed there a while, and Orochimaru and Kabuto came too."

Tsunade, who had somehow managed not to speak until then, couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"What? Why didn't you tell me?!" Noticing that Naruto flinched when she raised her voice she immediately regretted it, pulling him into a gentle hug and apologizing to him.

"I didn't say it because I… I couldn't. They took turns at raping me, Orochimaru and Kabuto," Tsunade paled, feeling sick with disgust. Tears started falling from the blonde boy's eyes as he forced himself to keep speaking. "And then… they made Sasuke rape me, too." The last part came out as a whisper, now the blonde woman really felt like throwing up, what she'd just learned disgusting her more than she'd thought anything could, even more than blood had before she was cured of that fear.

"Naruto…" She didn't know what to do, it there was anything she could do, as the blonde's eyes were filled with tears that he tried his hardest to hold back.

"I couldn't tell anyone 'cause I was so afraid of how you'd react, that you'd all be disgusted with me – I was already a monster, a demon, then that was added to it…" He was cut short by Tsunade's sharp, angered voice.

"Disgusted with you? No one would've been, Naruto, and don't you dare call yourself a monster _or_ a demon… In fact," a gleam of _something_ passed the woman's eyes, "I forbid you that, as your Hokage."

"Tsunade" the teen was at a lack of words, gaping slightly, he'd never expected her to react so strongly.

"That explains a lot, though," Tsunade's hands were now clenched at her sides, oh how she wanted to kill – no, that was to easy, torture would be better – the Uchiha. "But it still doesn't explain why it hasn't healed like it should for you, you don't normally scar from anything thanks to Kyuubi."

"Well, you see, that's just it…" Naruto had pushed up the long sleeve of his shirt and traced one of the deeper scars on his right wrist with his thumb. "When I get hurt the fox always heals it, but when I hurt myself it won't, as a means of trying to get me to stop, I suppose… It only heals anything self-inflicted if it's life-threatening, and that's only happened once…"

"You've tried to kill yourself? Tsunade could tell that the boy's self inflicted injuries were serious, but for the blonde to attempt suicide was something she hadn't thought possible.

"No, it was an accident. And I've only cut two times…" Tsunade sighed, shaking her head.

"When?"

"You know right before the mission, that week when Kakashi was training us? It was then." Again the blonde woman sighed.

"Damn, Naruto, I really want to let you out of here. Heck, I think it'd do you good, but I can't. Unless you have a guardian at all times I can't let you leave here, you're a danger to yourself." Naruto groaned, his voice much like that of a displeased three-year old.

"But I wanna go home… I promise that I won't hurt myself, come on…" He looked at her with pleading eyes, but the woman merely shook her head.

"No, sorry, Naruto."

"Damn these scars," Naruto said to himself, his fingernails digging into the skin on his arms leaving white scratch-marks over his scars.

"See why I won't let you go?" He grunted, laying down I the bed and pulling the covers over his head, Tsunade getting the point and taking her leave.

Once she was out of Naruto's room and the door was closed behind her she turned to 'bird', one of the two ANBU currently guarding her, whom she knew to be Hyuuga Neji, telling him to guard the blonde and make sure he didn't attempt to run away, the male nodded and stayed behind as Tsunade and the other ANBU left.

--

Kakashi was walking towards the hospital when he heard a familiar voice, turning his head only to see Tenzo leaning against a wall, waving at him. _I shouldn't have turned around_. The man was a good friend of Kakashi, but he also happened to enjoy bothering the jounin, and at the moment he was smirking. _This is not good._

"Hey Hatake."

"Tenzo." Kakashi felt slightly nervous as he saw the other male's devilish smirk.

"Now I know why you were in such a hurry to see Naruto that time." Nothing more, nothing less, but Tenzo knew Kakashi could tell where he was heading.

"What?" Kakashi decided to play dumb, in case Tenzo didn't know everything he'd rather have the male saying what he knew than bursting out with it himself.

"Yeah, pretty much the whole village knows, actually. Sakura and Ino were out this morning talking, and as you know the two of them aren't that… discreet." Kakashi shook his head, frowning. Damn that girl, she was going to pay…

"Damn her…"

"So it's true then, you're seeing him?" Kakashi wasn't sure how to reply, was he seeing Naruto? They'd only just started figuring things out, and now this was sure to make everything that much more, to use the Nara kid's signature word, troublesome.

"Yeah." Tenzo grinned.

"So the perverted sensei has fallen in love with his student? Why this sounds just like the plot of one of those very books that you read, except for, of course, that there ought to be one boy and one girl in those." This time it was Kakashi who grinned.

"Oh, and how do you know that? As far as I know you haven't read them?" Tenzo shook his head in reply, he hadn't, and then his eyes grew wide when Kakashi held the book to him to read the smaller typing beneath the main title 'Icha Icha'; 'Yaoi Edition Volume 1.' "Now, would you mind letting me pass, I was on my way to see him just now.

"No, of course, go ahead." The ANBU had been just stunned enough to let Kakashi pass without bothering him further, when he got his senses back he proceeded to go home and plan what team 7 would be doing the following day for training, at the lack of anything better to do.

--

Kakashi was just down the hall from Naruto's room when he spotted an ANBU positioned outside the door that he'd been through so many times, picking up his pace, worrying that something had happened to the blonde.

"What's going…" the ANBU, bird, moved one of his hands in a manner that told Kakashi to stop speaking, then he spoke himself.

"Nothing's happening here, but the Godaime asked me to stay here and make sure Naruto doesn't try to sneak out or run away, I know nothing more, but she wants to see you now…as in _now._" The male seemed familiar, he knew he'd heard his voice many times before, cast one last look at Kakashi then resumed staring at the wall, which he'd been doing when the man arrived, Kakashi himself performed the hand seals required to transport him to the Hokage Tower, he wouldn't delay when it came to something as important as Naruto.

As he walked inside her office he was surprised to Iruka and Jiraiya there too, none the less he waved a hand for a greeting, walking up to her desk where the two others were already seated.

"There, now we can start." Iruka and Jiraiya both smiled knowingly, Kakashi just looked questioningly at them.

"What?"

"I wanted all you three here to discuss Naruto's release from the hospital with you, as I've already said to Iruka and Jiraiya." Kakashi now knew why the two others were there, but he still didn't understand, last he heard the blonde was to be released the next day.

"Due to certain circumstances Naruto can't be released tomorrow, or any time soon for that matter, unless he has an around the clock guardian to watch him, that is where you all come in."

"Wait, why does Naruto need a guardian, is there something wrong with him?" Iruka asked, getting nervous not knowing what was wrong or why the teen needed a guardian 24/7.

"No… Or, there is nothing physically wrong with him, but he does have an issue that I won't take lightly, he's been hurting himself, as in cutting, and it started right before _the mission_, therefore I don't feel safe letting him be by himself."

"Wait, what? Naruto's been hurting himself?" Iruka and Kakashi chorused, both of the sannin in the room looking at Kakashi with disbelief; they knew that Iruka didn't know (Tsunade had, at the blonde's wish, helped him hide it from the chuunin), but Kakashi should have.

"Yes, due to things which he wouldn't want me to say, but I believe there are people in this room who may know it." Kakashi and Jiraiya both nodded, Iruka let his head drop. _What is it that you couldn't tell me, Naruto, and why?_

"So that's why he's always wearing long sleeves, is it?" Kakashi suddenly came to a realization, how could he not have noticed it earlier.

"Yes. Now back to the topic I brought you here to discuss, a guardian for him. After thinking it through I figured that if he ought to have a guardian it will have to be one of you three, you're the ones who know him best and the ones he trusts the most, I don't have the time myself, and I wanted to ask you if any of you would be willing to take on being Naruto's guardian, it would be as a mission given by me." Iruka and Kakashi both nodded, both would happily take on the task of watching the blonde.

"I would, but as you already know I'm leaving on a mission to sound in little more than a week, and even though I know you would be willing to take me off it I see myself as the best fit to take the mission, so I can't." Tsunade nodded, she understood Jiraiya completely and, she thought, if in his position would likely have done the same.

"Then it'll be one of you two, if you'll accept it, of course." Both the males nodded.

"Naruto hasn't told me anything that could have made him hurt himself, would you tell me?" Iruka looked pleadingly at her; it hurt him that the blonde hadn't spoken to him about whatever it was that was bothering him.

"No, she can't" Kakashi said before Tsunade had the chance to answer, "and neither can Jiraiya or myself, we all promised him. Believe me, though, Iruka, he has his reasons for not telling you, he told me that much. He doesn't want you to know so as to protect you, so until he tells you, you shouldn't be too mad with him, it's not that he doesn't trust you."

Iruka was still upset that Naruto hadn't told him whatever this big secret he was hiding was, and the fact that he wouldn't tell him to protect him worried him further, but he decided to listen to Kakashi's advice and wait until Naruto saw it fit to tell him, whenever that may be.

"As I do not know what is causing Naruto's problems, that and the fact that Naruto and Kakashi are having some sort of a relationship," Kakashi looked quizzically at Iruka, he'd expected more of a reaction from the male from finding out that his… what exactly was Naruto to him? That Naruto and he were dating, expecting that Iruka would at least either yell at him or hit him, but neither reaction came. "Yes, Kakashi, I know – it's not that hard to tell, and practically the whole village heard this morning, rumors travel fast, you know. Anyways; I believe that he would be best fit to look after Naruto" Iruka said with a sad smile. "It's not that I don't want to, cause I care for him more than I do anything else in the world, but I also think that I would feel like I was letting down all my pupils if I stopped working at the school even for just a little, they need me too."

"So you're declining the offer?"

"No, no, not at all, I'm just saying that if Kakashi is willing to take the job I think it would be better…" Kakashi smiled thankfully at Iruka, he knew that the man would happily have accepted the mission and that it was probably quite hard for him to do what he was doing.

"Do you accept it, Kakashi?" Tsunade asked, studying him with her brown eyes.

"Yes, of course" the jounin said, nodding his head as he spoke.

"Then you can take him home tomorrow, he will have to live with you, are you sure you're prepared for that, Hatake?" He nodded again, the questioning look she'd been giving him turning into a grateful one as she nodded back. "Jiraiya, Iruka, would you two please leave so that I can discuss the specifics with Kakashi?"

'Sure' and 'Yes, Tsunade' was replied simultaneously by Jiraiya and Iruka before they both walked out the door of Tsunade's office - Jiraiya, who was the last to exit, closing it behind him. Just as the door closed, Tsunade spoke.

"How serious are you about him, Kakashi?" Her eyes were studying him intently, he could feel her gaze on him so hot that it was right before he was lit on fire, he thought. He took his time thinking before he answered, finding the right words took time.

"I, well, I don't really know how to put it," he paused, "but to say it like this, if it stood between his life and mine I'd happily give mine without a second thought, does that answer your question?" She nodded, slightly surprised, she hadn't expected him to answer something like that, but when he'd spoke there hadn't even been a hint of sarcasm nor anything to suggest he didn't completely mean what he said.

"This is your last chance, not that I think you'll take it, to back out of it, are you still sure?" He nodded, his eyes showing that he didn't even offer her suggestion a thought, his mind was already made up about the matter.

"I will take care of him, Tsunade, I swear, but one question; how'd you get him to tell you? He didn't want to tell anyone" a moment past before he continued speaking. "Hell, had Jiraiya not told me I think he would have kept it to himself and never told me…" He looked questioningly at her, awaiting an answer.

"I don't know why he told me, I simply asked him about the cutting and what caused it… Thought I think he understood that if he didn't tell me I wouldn't let him leave." Kakashi still didn't really understand why Naruto would tell her when he earlier had refused to tell anyone, but he nodded silently, something which Tsunade saw through. "Did it ever occur to you that you might have something to do with his improvement in the trusting department? I don't know, I haven't spoken to him about it, but it seems to me that since you came into the picture he's beginning to be more like his old self; not that he doesn't have a long way to go, but he'd slowly starting to drop the façade that it seems he's been keeping up for so long."

"Maybe… I'm just glad that he's not beyond all hope just yet; most people would be if they'd been through what he has. That, and I'm thankful beyond words that he's willing to give me a chance; I'm not sure I'd be able to give me a second chance if I were him, the way I used to treat him…" Tsunade was stunned at Kakashi's words, the fact that he was telling her all these things, his thoughts, which he, being Kakashi, never told anyone was just one thing added to the many strange things that had been happening as of late. Both people in the room fell quiet for some time, each thinking their own thoughts, before Tsunade spoke again.

"He's being released tomorrow, from then until I see Naruto fit to being alone you will be off active duty, though if you have to leave I will get someone else, like Iruka, to watch over him until you can do it again. You will take him home from the hospital, and you will watch over him all hours of the day to make sure he doesn't do something stupid." _Something stupid_. Hurting himself. Both knew what the words meant. "You have somewhere he can sleep, right?"

"Yeah…" Kakashi, who'd still been half ways into his own thoughts, looked up, he hadn't really thought about that. "He can sleep on the couch, it's one of those you pull out to a double bed, you know… That, or in my bed, he'll do whatever he chooses…" The eyes that met his were judging; he was known as a pervert, and now was the time for his rumor to come back and haunt him. 

"As long as you don't try something stupid…"

"I wouldn't, Tsunade, he'll be the one to set the pace… I don't want to loose him, he's worth too much to me." Kakashi smiled. "Now may I go see him?"

"Sure," Kakashi was half way out the door when she remembered one last thing. "As for his training, he'll be training with team 7 and Yamato as usual, you'll have that time off, otherwise it's a full-time job." He smiled and nodded, then closed the door behind him, deciding to take the walk over to the hospital.

--

After their meeting with Tsunade, Jiraiya and Iruka had gone to see Naruto, staying until Kakashi arrived, then they left in separate directions, giving the couple their privacy.

Iruka had been walking around in the town for about an hour as the sun slowly set beneath the walls of the village before he realized he was just going around in circles, settling on a bench in one of the many parks, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Only as he looked at the big clock that hung on the wall of a large building, it showed 01.30 am, did he realize how tired he was, his fatigue slowly taking over until he was ready to fall asleep when a familiar voice rang in his ears.

The tan male lifted his head slowly to see who the voice belonged to, he was so tired that he couldn't even place it, but it didn't take long until he spotted two figures approaching him, recognizing them as Shizune and Anko once they came closer.

"You alright, Iruka?" He looked up to meet Shizune's eyes as the two women were now only meters away, smiling tiredly at her.

"Yeah, but I'm dead tired, I guess I just dozed off…" She smiled back, sitting down next to him, but before she could speak, Anko did.

"Iruka, you know better than to fall asleep at a place like this, you're so cute it's dangerous for you, what if someone came by and started molesting you?" She raised her eyebrows as if to emphasize what she said, all three of them laughing lightly.

"Hah… I guess you're right, and I do know better, I just have a lot on my mind's all… It's nothing big, though." Anko smiled and Shizune motioned to hold Iruka's hand, squeezing it lightly. Seeing, and feeling the connection between the two Anko excused herself and walked away, the two remaining shinobi sitting in silence for some minutes before Shizune spoke.

"So, what exactly is it that's on you mind, dolphin?" The tan male smiled, she was just too sweet.

"Well, I just found out some new things about Naruto, and then I kind of… Well, I declined an offer of being his guardian once he got out of the hospital so that Kakashi could take the job… I mean, I know that they kind of have a relationship or something, and I also found out that there are things Naruto isn't telling me, even if everyone said he's keeping it secret for my own sake, but I figured Kakashi would be better suited… I mean, I know that I haven't lost him or anything, that he's still here, but it feels like he's just growing not to need me, and I sort of miss the times when he'd come crying to me even for the smallest things… It's like I'm losing him although I know I'm not…" The black haired woman shifted slightly and put her arms around the male, hugging him gently.

"He still loves you like family, you know that, Iruka, and if everyone says there's a reason he's keeping things from you, then there probably is. If it's something you need to know he'll tell you, just don't think too much of it." He smiled at her as she pulled back, she always knew what to say to make him feel better.

"Thanks."

"Any time, Iruka, you know that. Now you better go home and get some sleep, you look about as tired as a zombie… I'll walk with you." She got to her feet and pulled him with her, then they started walking in the directions of both their apartments which, they had found out, were only few minutes apart if they took a couple of shortcuts, holding hands the whole way until they reached Shizune's apartment.

"Good night, Iruka." She said, fumbling in her purse for her keys though she knew exactly where they were, stalling for time since she didn't want him to go just yet.

"Good night, Shizune." As she found her keys and unlocked the door, she felt a hand around her waist and turned, her lips meeting with Iruka's in a chaste, sweet kiss. She blushed slightly when he let go of her, then mumbled 'good night' over again before she went inside, closing the door softly behind her.

Once he'd bid her goodbye, Iruka walked away from Shizune's apartment and towards his own. Once he'd gotten home and was done with all his daily routines of brushing his teeth and such he went to bed, falling asleep just as soon as he pulled the covers around him.

--

**Some more Rambling: I know that it seems the story is not very angsty any longer, and that this chapter was quite uneventful, but it's on its way in the near future **


	15. Chapter 14

Okay, I like the end part but the chapter feels unfinished

**Random Rambling:****Hello there, peoples here's the new chapter, and for some reason I don't have that much randomness to come with today, so I'll just let you read )**

**Last Chapter:**** Basically; Sakura walked in on a KakaNaru moment, hence pretty much the whole village now knows, and it's decided that, since Naruto is mentally unstable, Kakashi will be his guarding. **

**Disclaimer:**** Yes, Naruto still belongs to the genius Masashi Kishimoto.**

**Reviews, please They make my day quite often )**

**Chapter 14**

It was nearing afternoon and Tsunade was just finishing up checking out Naruto when Kakashi walked through the door to Naruto's hospital room for what he hoped would be the last time, the blonde beaming when he saw the older male enter the room. The night before, after Iruka and Jiraiya had left, Kakashi had come to see him, bringing him the very good news that he would be able to go home from the hospital after all, and that he would be his guardian, though that ordeal had not been an all happy one.

_Flashback_

_Kakashi had just entered the room when Iruka and Jiraiya left, leaving him and the blonde by themselves. _

"'_Kashi" the boy was sitting on the window still, he could see the outside when he did so, if he stayed in bed he was too low down, and he needed something to distract him from the whiteness of the hospital room. _

"_Hey, Naruto." A silence passed as Kakashi didn't know what to say, the blonde simply waited for him to continue. "You're going home tomorrow after all, I'll be your guardian." Naruto beamed at the glad news, then his face suddenly changed, now Kakashi was bound to know about his hurting himself, too._

"_You know."_

"_Why didn't you tell me?__" The older male's voice was serious, sad; and though he knew why he had to ask. _

"_I couldn't. I was too ashamed." The blonde said apologetically, reaching his hand out and stroking it hand over the older man's cheek when he saw his sad expression. In a flash Kakashi took a hold of Naruto's arm and held it straight, pushing up the long sleeve to expose the many scars on the teen's arm. The blonde winced as his arm was stretched out, an embarrassed look passing his face once he comprehended the situation._

"_How could you do this to yourself?" Kakashi's voice was stunned – not for good reasons – and though he thought he was prepared for what he'd see, the many, deep scars on Naruto's forearm was something he'd been unable to picture. Naruto looked up to meet the visible eye of his lover, his blue eyes filled with remorse, regret, shame, guilt as he spoke._

"_How could I not? Everything just hurt so much, 'Kashi, it just became to much for me… I didn't plan on it, I promise, it just happened, and then it just happened again, but even if it was just for a little while it made the pain go away, I needed that relief… I tried to move past it all, I re__ally did, but you have no idea how hard it was for me just to get as far as where I was back then – not to speak of now - It's not that easy when you're all alone… I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I kept acting like my old self I might become him again, but it didn't work that way, it only made things worse – I figured that since I'd already put up that façade for so long I couldn't just stop, I had to keep it up for the sake of everyone else, and so I couldn't tell anyone, not that I had anyone to tell, but you get the point…" at that point the blonde's voice broke, the teen breaking down in front of the only person he'd show his whole soul too, the only person he'd allow himself to break down in front of. _

_He'd cried and sobbed for hours on the male's shoulder before the tears stopped and he was able to breathe properly again; all the while the silver-haired male that was there with him had been holding him close, stroking his hair and comforting him silently._

_Flashback over_

Tsunade took one last look over his chart before she turned to him and gave him a long hug.

"You're all set, Naruto," she smiled gently at the blonde, "Now don't do anything stupid or I'll have you admitted to the mental ward, you definitely don't want that…" she said with a teasing grin. While the blonde's laughed, she turned to Kakashi. "And you better take good care of him, Hatake," she always used his surname when she was serious with him. "If anything at all happens to him… well, I think you know what kind of trouble you're in then."

"Trust me, if anything happens to him I'll be harder on myself than you can ever be." They had a brief staring contest before the voice of the boy in question turned both their minds back to reality.

"I'm here, you know." Naruto smiled gently at the two of them, then looked at Kakashi. "Now do you think we can get going, I kind of want to get out of here, you know."

After a brief conversation with Tsunade the silver haired male picked up the blonde's bag and flung it over his shoulder, walking out of the hospital with Naruto by his side, headed for the blonde's new 'home'.

It was about 2 kilometers from the hospital to Kakashi's flat, and the walk, which normally took Kakashi about fifteen minutes, took close to an hour with a stumbling, exhausted blonde and familiar faces stopping them to have a chat with Naruto all the time. Most of the conversations they had were simple 'hi and how are yous' that were exchanged, but some of them lasted a while longer; when they were approximately 50 meters away from Kakashi's door they walked into Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Hey!" the blonde smiled at the two, waving as they came closer. "Shika, Chouji, how are ya?"'

"You out, Naruto? That's good" Chouji said, all the while eating some chips from the seemingly endless bag of them that he always carried around. "I'm good."

"Me too," Shikamaru said, reaching out his hand to support the blonde as he stumbled forwards, his balance was still not at its best. "You really are too troublesome…" All four males laughed lightly at his statement.

"Thanks for saving me back then… I guess I'd be a goner if you all hadn't come to get me…" The blonde looked at Kakashi first, then at Shikamaru where his eyes stayed whilst he spoke.

"Don't think too much of yourself, it was an order from the Hokage" Shikamaru said playfully, regretting it once he saw the insecure look that passed the blondes eyes. "I would have gone anyways though, you're my friend." As he expected the statement made the happiness from before return to Naruto, but what he didn't know were the insecure thoughts it had brought to the blonde's mind.

"Well," Kakashi said, "We have to go, but I'm sure we'll see you around."

"'We'?" Chouji asked, him and Shikamaru both looking questioningly at the pair they were speaking too.

"Yeah," Kakashi and Naruto replied in chorus, then the older explained the situation – not down to details, but saying that since Naruto was still not completely healthy he would need someone to watch him for a while – the two other teen's accepting the explanation though Shikamaru was still skeptical.

It took another minute before they separated, when they did Kakashi and Naruto hurried to the formers apartment as Kakashi didn't feel like another conversation, the blonde not really caring. When they came to the building where Kakashi lived, a compartment of jounin flats, they took the elevator up to the fifth floor where Kakashi led the way to door 58, which he proceeded to unlock before he held it open to Naruto, and then walked inside himself, kicking it shut.

_Damn! This place is a mess… _Naruto was shocked to see the mess that was Kakashi's apartment, it looked about as tidy as if a bomb had been dropped there. Seeing the comical expression on the blonde's face the jounin started laughing; the boy's lower jaw was hanging so low if it went any further it would dislocate, he thought, and his eyes looked about ready to pop out.

"I know it's messy in here, but seriously, is it that bad?" He asked between laughs, taking a look around his living room/Kitchen. _Okay, so it's a little messy, it's not that bad, is it?_ Naruto walked into the kitchen and picked up a dirty shirt lying on the counter, throwing it to a pile of clothes that had already begun mounting on the other side of it, on the living room floor.

"Uhm, "he said, gesturing around the room, "Yeah."

"Don't be rude to your host, Naruto" Kakashi said playfully, dropping the blonde's bag on the floor and walking over to him, poking him lightly in the shoulder.

"I'm not being rude, heck, I'm doing a maid's work after five minutes in this place…" The blonde, who was busy drying of the kitchen counter which was full of various crumbs and some tomato slices threw the piece of paper he'd used in the slightly over-filled trash can and sat down on one of the two chairs in the by the kitchen table.

"Okay, so it _is_ messy in here…I'm not here all that much, and it's been less lately than usual…" When Naruto smiled, Kakashi couldn't help but do the same.

"I'll help you tidy up this place, but just one thing first; sleeping arrangements. I don't have a spare room, but you have the choice of either sleeping on the couch over there," he pointed to said couch which was situated on the opposite wall of the door that they'd entered through, buried by a pile of clothes, "it pulls out into a double bed, or you can sleep with me in my bed."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say, looking to Kakashi for any kind of hint as to what he should choose. Kakashi shrugged at him, telling him the decision was entirely his, and that he would not have a say in it, and although it was hard for him not to show how he felt he kept it to himself.

"Then, at least for now, I think I'll sleep on the couch," _It's not because I don't want to sleep with you, because I do, I just don't dare yet. The panic attacks, the angst… It's one thing when I wake up alone with those feelings, but if you're there I might hurt you without meaning too… _"You know, cause I wouldn't want to wake up with a panic attack every morning, and I just don't think I'm ready to handle it yet." He smiled sweetly, and Kakashi nodded, then they went on with trying to tidy the jounin's apartment into a reasonable state.

--

"Are you sure?" Jiraiya nodded. "I could send someone else" He shook his head. "I could have someone go with you?" Her voice was slightly nervous, he shook his head again.

"No, I'm going alone, Tsunade. It'll be fine." He smiled.

"That's what _they_ said…" Her voice trailed off, her fingers searching for something where her crystal necklace used to be, then she felt a hand around her own, looking up into Jiraiya's eyes.

"Sorry to say, Tsunade, but I don't care what they said; I promise you that I'm coming back." He was serious, she could tell from his eyes, a hint of a smile reaching her lips.

"You better! Break that promise and I'll never let you rest." He laughed lightly.

"Now, are you going to brief me on the mission, _Hokage_?" he let go of her hand and walked over to the window, settling in the window still.

"Sure." She nodded. "It's and information gathering mission, as you already know, to gain more knowledge of both Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. Orochimaru is, well that's the problem, we don't know what he's up too, and the Akatsuki are moving, I've already got news that they've started searching for the Jinchuuriki… This mission is very important to Konoha, if we're not prepared against them we won't stand a chance, so success is crucial. You will do things in what order you feel is best, but don't to anything reckless, okay?" her voice was strict as she said the last sentence, she knew Jiraiya well, and she wouldn't allow him to do something stupid that could eventually turn out suicidal.

"Got it. When do I leave?" She shrug her shoulders.

"When can you?"

"Any time, really."

"Then you leave in three days, you had better be well prepared." Her eyes were still locked on his as she spoke.

"I know, I know, I'm not exactly a novice, Tsunade…" They both laughed at the statement, a tense, awkward silence followed before anyone spoke again.

"You will report here 10 am the day of your departure, until then you may do what you please" she said in a matter of factly tone, smiling as he waved a hand and walked out the door.

"See ya"

"Yeah"

Once she heard the sound of the door slamming she settled behind her desk and started working on the seemingly endless paperwork that was mounting up on it, trying to get her mind off things, unsuccessfully. She couldn't help but worry, she knew the mission could prove fatal, the chance of Jiraiya's return was close to 80 percent, but the chance that he was unhurt was down to 20-something percent only. She shrugged and buried herself even deeper in her papers, even if she wanted to, there wasn't much she could do; as Hokage she had to look out for what was best for Konoha, and Jiraiya was by far the most suited shinobi for the mission.

--

"… Oh, and Naruto was released from the hospital today, did I tell you that?" The black haired male suddenly got a look of interest on his face instead of the bored one that had previously occupied his features, turning to face the pink haired kunoichi that was his girlfriend.

"He was?" Hyuuga Neji smiled, he hadn't had the time to see Naruto the past week, having just returned from week long mission to wave country, but he was glad to hear that his friend was finally released.

"Mm, yeah, and Kakashi's going to be his guardian…"

"Hm?" what Sakura had said was just strange enough to pique interest.

"Yeah… I'm not quite sure why he needs a guardian, medically he's doing quite well, but Tsunade wouldn't let him leave the hospital unless he had one, so I suppose there's a good reason…" Neji nodded to show he was listening. "Oh, and something more you probably haven't heard yet, Naruto and Kakashi are, uhm, well, they're dating." Neji came to a halt. _That was definitely not expected._

"Really?" He said, trying to think through the possibilities of something like what he just heard happening; destiny definitely existed, because something like that happening was just to strange to be a coincidence.

"Mhm… I kinda… walked in on them one morning in the hospital…" A dreamy look passed the girl's eyes as she thought back to the hot scene, her boyfriend choosing to ignore it.

"Speaking of, doesn't your shift start in like 10 minutes?" Sakura looked at her watch, he was right.

"Damn… Yeah, it does, I gotta go…" she placed a brief kiss on male's lips. "We're still on for tonight, right?"

"Pick you up at 9, pinky" she smiled, she actually liked it when he called her that.

"Bye." With that she walked off, hurrying in the direction of the hospital, leaving Neji to ponder on what she had said.

After about fifteen minutes of trying to think of how something like what he'd just heard happening he gave up, deciding instead to ask the blonde about it when he got the chance. He smiled slightly thinking of the blonde, he'd been quite worried for the younger male as of late, but if he was released he ought to be doing quite good, yet he couldn't quite help wonder why he would need a guardian… _There's something strange about it, but I just don't know what… I wonder if it might have anything to do with Itachi?_

Knowing that thinking it over by himself probably wouldn't get him anywhere since he didn't know much of the situation he figured that he could either a) try and use his position in the ANBU to find out something, b) get Sakura in on it all (which he knew would be easy) and have her find out more, c) ask Naruto (which he doubted would get him anywhere), or d) talk to someone else, like Shikamaru, and see what he could get out of it. Opting in his mind to at least try the latter first he made a mental note to look up the younger teen later, they met often enough, then he looked at his watch, seeing that it was almost time for him to meet with his team for their regular training session.

--

It nearing sundown when Naruto and Kakashi were finally done cleaning up the latter's apartment and taking out the last of the trash; currently Kakashi was standing in the kitchen making food and Naruto was sitting on the now visible couch relaxing, recuperating after the day's hard work.

"What are you making?" the blonde asked, the smells coming from the kitchen were a pleasant change from that of hospital food.

"Wait and see, Naruto…" the blonde groaned, displeased. "You'll like it, I promise you that much."

"You better hurry up in that case, I'm starving!" True to the blonde's words his stomach chose just that moment to growl, earning the blonde a slightly stunned look from his boyfriend.

"Your stomach… is loud" the older male said, then came walking out from behind the kitchen counter carrying two plates, setting them on the table in front of Naruto once he got there.

The blonde was practically drooling when he saw the food set before him on the table, his plate was filled with fried noodles and egg, and Kakashi had been sure to get the teen a lot of vegetables also. Never mind the fact that the food wasn't what Naruto would have preferred, ramen from Ichirakus, the food in front of him looked delicious, especially after living on the tasteless hospital food for so long.

"This looks so good…" the blonde was still staring at his food.

"Then eat it," Kakashi had already pulled down his mask, even when he didn't have it over his face it was usually around his neck, and started eating his own portion, "You're hungry, I can tell that much."

Before Kakashi had finished speaking the blonde was already digging in from the plate, it didn't even take him ten minutes to finish the meal. As he was chewing the last bits of his food he looked sadly at his plate, wishing he ate slower so that he could have enjoyed the taste for a little longer.

"I'll take it the food was good?" Kakashi asked, smiling as he picked up his plate and Naruto's and carrying the back to the kitchen where he put them in the dishwasher.

"Mhm, it was really good… I didn't know you could cook this well, heck, I didn't even know you could cook" the silver haired male pretended to be offended at the blonde's statement, poutting his lips at the teen.

"Maa, maa, don't you think that was a little mean, Na-ru-chan?" he asked playfully, then added "You better make it up to me if you want desert!"

"There's desert?!" Naruto asked happily, then he stilled, how would he make it up to Kakashi? "If you bring me that desert I'll make it up to you, I promise…" he said, looking up with his big, blue eyes.

"You'll get your desert, now closer your eyes" Naruto did as asked of him, concentrating hard not to sneak a peek as he heard Kakashi approaching him and then setting something down on the table. It smelled so good, almost like… "Now open."

"Strawberries!" the teen was grinning from ear to ear, and though it was something very few people knew, strawberries came even before ramen on his list of favorite foods – the only reason he didn't eat more of it was that in Konoha strawberries were quite expensive, and he usually didn't have that kind of money; if he did he had to spend it on fixing his apartment and such. "It's my favorite food, how'd you know?" The blonde suddenly realized that he'd never actually told Kakashi that he liked strawberries, finding it strange that the man had managed to find it out.

"Just a lucky guess, I suppose…" Naruto smiled happily, staring at his plate full of delicious strawberries for a minute or so before ate them, slower than his usual eating speed so as to savor the taste, but still quite fast.

Once he'd eaten all the strawberries and licked every last drop of the fruit juice that they left off the plate he turned to face Kakashi, his blue gaze locking onto the man's mismatched eyes; then, in a flash, he closed the distance between them and placed a soft kiss on the elder's lips, daring to linger instead of drawing back like he knew he probably should lest he should get an anxiety attack again.

Kakashi couldn't help himself when he tasted the last remnants of strawberry on the blonde's lips, his tongue licking gently at the boy's lips, asking for entrance which he got. As soon as the blonde opened his mouth to him, his tongue entered the blonde's mouth, exploring every inch of the wet cavern and tasting the mixture of strawberries and Naruto, which was truly magnificent. His arms gradually moved around the blonde's body as they kissed, the blonde's finding their way around Kakashi's back, one of them reaching up to play with what parts of his hair they could reach. Suddenly the blonde tensed, pulling away from the kiss. He started shaking when he noticed the arms that surrounded him, his vision blurring until he was unsure of what he was really seeing.

Everything seemed to mix, all the colors, until all he could see was a blurry resemblance to pale skin surrounded by hair that was several shades darker. He wanted to scream or do something, but he couldn't, his body freezing when terror hit him.

Cursing himself for letting something like what was happening happen, Kakashi freed his arms of the blonde, then moved them to cup his face, forcing the boy to look at him.

"Naruto… Naruto, look at me," his voice was calm, but laced with worry. "It's me, Kakashi, Naruto, calm down. It's just me…" he repeated as the blonde seemed to slowly return to himself, leaning his head on the jounins shoulder and sobbing lightly once the fear drew back.

"I'm sorry…" the boy whispered, "I'm so sorry…" and he really was. He wanted to be able to have a normal relationship to Kakashi, but his fears made that impossible, the anxiety that overcame him was so great that he couldn't control it.

"Don't be, Naruto, it's not your fault…" the boy was now sobbing gently into his shoulder, his tears dampening the material of his t-shirt.

"I… hate him so much…" the blonde mumbled between his sobs, his hands were again around the older man's back, holding on as if for bare life, his head resting on the elder's chest.

"I know."

Kakashi had no idea of how long they sat there in silence, and he was pretty sure the blonde hadn't timed it either, but by the time the boy stopped crying he was so exhausted that he fell asleep against his boyfriend's chest, and the sun had set some time ago. Kakashi lifted Naruto from the couch, which he had yet to pull out and make into a bed, lifting him up gently and carrying him into the bedroom where he lay him down on the bed and drew the covers over him. After making sure that the boy was ok he walked back into the living room, fixing the sofa into a bed and finding some spare bed linen, then he settled by the window, watching the stars for a while before he went to bed himself.

--

It was little past mid-day when Neji and his team were done training for the day, before any of his teammates could say anything to hold him longer he walked off in search of a certain brainiac by the name of Nara Shikamaru.

It only took Neji about fifteen minutes to find Shikamaru, as always the brunette was lying in his favorite spot watching the clouds, his best friend, Chouji, lying beside him.

"Shikamaru…" Neji said, the brunette making a displeased sound as he moved his gaze towards where the voice came from. "Chouji." Neji lifted a hand to greet the two.

"You're too troublesome, Neji," Shikamaru stated, "What is it?"

"I wanted to speak with you about something," Neji said in his polite as usual tone, "Will you join me for a walk?" The younger boy sat up slowly, then got to his feet and walked towards Neji who was standing some meters away.

"Sure. See you later, Chouji…" Chouji mumbled a goodbye before he resumed eating his chips, watching the two boys walk away.

Once they'd gotten what Neji considered a good length away from Chouji he coughed, getting Shikamaru's attention, and then spoke.

"You know Naruto was released, right?" He pretty much knew the answer to the question, but he asked none the less.

"Yeah, me and Chouji ran into him that day, he was with Kakashi…" Shikamaru didn't say any more, he didn't know if was something people were supposed to know or not, so he kept his mouth shut to see if Neji was going somewhere with his question.

"Yeah, he's Naruto's guardian, Sakura told me, and she also said that there was no medical reason for him to have one… I was wondering if you might have any thoughts on it…" his voice faded as Shikamaru thought.

"Damn, this whole mess with Naruto is so damn troublesome…" Neji looked at him questioningly, he'd never had a close relationship to the Uzumaki, but none the less it bothered him that something seemed to be wrong with him – he'd done so much for the Hyuuga's that Neji was curious to what could be wrong with the blonde, and if there was anything he could do for him. "Well, I've been friends, I suppose, with Naruto since the academy – well, we weren't really friends back then, but whatever – and he's changed so much since then… You know when we went on that mission to retrieve Sasuke?" The older male nodded. "Well, after that he changed, he withdrew into himself and he… Well, he just wasn't himself, it was like he didn't have that spark to him anymore that he used to have…"

Neji nodded again, he completely understood what the younger boy was saying, but it still puzzled him why Naruto might need a guardian. "So you think it might have something to do with that, then, that he needs a guardian?" Shikamaru raised his shoulders and let them down again, then he spoke.

"Well, not necessarily, but yeah, I do. If Tsunade thinks he needs a guardian there's bound to be a reason for it, and if it's not for physical reasons then it has to be mental ones… This is so troublesome…"

"I agree, but I still feel that I owe it to him to try and help if I can." Shikamaru was slightly surprised at what the Hyuuga said, the black haired male had always believed so deeply in destiny, and by such beliefs Naruto's fate was set no matter what they did, but instead the Hyuuga came to him asking for help figuring out what was wrong with the blonde. Naruto was certainly one to make an impact on people; he'd definitely give him that.

The two boys kept talking for a while, not getting any further on the matter, and decided that Neji would ask Sakura if she knew anything, if not they'd have to devise another plan to figure it out, but they'd figure that out if it was needed, although Shikamaru had already thought up a couple of alternatives.

As they parted ways Shikamaru realized that he wasn't too far from his mom and dad's apartment, deciding to stop by for a visit. Ever since he became a jounin he had lived in a jounin flat, he found it easier that way, and he hadn't had the time to see his parents in a while, figuring it was a good time to drop in.

--

Kakashi woke to the sound of light footsteps crossing his floor, tensing at first, then relaxing as he remembered it was only Naruto. He squinted his eyes open to look out the window, surprised at seeing the sun high up already. Judged by its position it should be around mid-day… _Mid day? Damn, I'm supposed to be taking care of Naruto!_

He sat up quickly, calming down only as he felt a light hand on his shoulder and the weight of the 'mattress' shift as the teen sat down beside him.

"Morning, 'Kashi" the blonde said softly, smiling sweetly at him.

"Good day's more like it, isn't it?" the jounin said, giving out a small, un-Kakashi-like chuckle. The blonde raised his blue gaze to meet Kakashi's, his eyes laden with sadness and something of the likes of regret. The jounin couldn't stand seeing the sadness in Naruto's eyes, taking one of the boy's hands in his and stroking it gently with his thumb.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto's voice was low as he spoke, but his eyes were still on his boyfriend's.

"For what? The jounin racked his brain, but could find nothing the boy ought to be apologizing for, coming up with nothing better to say on the spot.

"Everything," the boy said repeatedly, then he paused. Kakashi was about to say something, but the blonde put a finger to his lips, shushing him, then he went on. "I'm sorry for being like this, 'Kashi, being and inconvenience to you and everyone else, and I'm sorry we can't be like a normal couple…" He let out a small sob, his boyfriend's supporting hand on his back, stroking it lightly.

"Naruto, don't be sorry when you have nothing to be sorry for. You're not an inconvenience to anyone, least of all me, I'm only happy to be here for you, and for that last part, we probably can in time, so we'll just have to wait. Believe what I say, to me, you're worth the waiting." He smiled at the blonde; the teen's reply was in the form of a slight pull of his lips towards something resembling a smile, albeit a sad one.

The blonde leaned closer to him and held onto him with his free hand, it almost seemed as if he were scared to let go. Kakashi looked down at him, smiling caringly, then he turned so that he was directly facing the boy, looking into his blue, blue eyes. The boy seemed to think about something very hard, then he leaned forwards and placed a chaste kiss his lips before he pulled back. Kakashi knew better now than to kiss the boy again, instead he placed his lips on the boy's forehead lovingly before he smiled at him and stood up.

"I… think I love you, Naruto…"

--

**Random Rambling, Again:** **Okay, when I talk about a sad/melancholy expression or the sadness in Naruto's eyes, go to youtube and find gactk's hoshi no suna, that's melody is exactly the feeling I'm talking about. The song is so beautiful, and I dare say it's the saddest song I've heard (I heard it first, then I read the lyrics in English, and it actually sent shudders – the good kind – down my spine…) – you really have to listen to it if you haven't heard it already.**


	16. Chapter 15

**Random Rambling:**** Oh yeah, I played around in some name generator I found on google – a what's your Japanese name kinda thing – and it actually came up with a name I liked, Miu, so I'll start going by that from now – I find it quite a lot better than ****Silje****, simply cause dislike my real name…**

**Sorry this took so long, it just wouldn't be the way I wanted it too… **

**Disclaimer: ****Okay, I'm tired of writing these; you already know who owns it… This right here'll be the last one I'm writing, if you haven't caught it by now, I strongly doubt you will in coming chapters either… :P Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto, and I don't. But I'm mad with him… he keeps killing of my favorite character, that evil, evil, genius of a man.**

**Review it, please, and you shall get pretty, yummy cookies and more to read **

**  
****Chapter 15  
****  
**Katie, don't cry  
I know you're trying your hardest  
And the hardest part is letting go  
Of the nights we share  
Ocala is calling  
And you know it's haunting  
But compared to your eyes  
Nothing shines quite as bright  
And when we look to the sky  
It's not mine, but I want it

Miserable at Best – Mayday Parade

"Come in," Tsunade said as she heard a knock on her door, smiling, although with a hint of sadness, when she saw who it was. Jiraiya slowly strode in to her office, walking closer to her and resting both his hands on her desk.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey, you're here." She stated the obvious, smiling up at the male.

"Yeah, reporting in, just like you said. I'll be leaving the village when I've said goodbye to Naruto." He was serious, she knew that, and she also knew that he knew the risks of the mission, yet she forced herself to go on smiling, although what she really wanted to do was tell him how she really felt.

"Ok." The tension between them was not something they could just overlook, making them both feel uncomfortable. Why was it like this, why now? "Well, here's the rest of what information you need for the mission, and I will give you 6 months, if you are not back before then a retrieval team will be sent out for you unless…" Understanding passed his eyes and Tsunade was happy she didn't have to say what she'd been about to, _unless we receive news of your death._

"I understand," he said, and then he smiled. "I'll miss you, Tsunade-chan." He walked around her desk and put his arms around her shoulders, hugging her tightly.

"I'll miss you too," she whispered, _and if, no when you return I'll tell you how I really feel about you, but that will probably only distract you on your mission, so it'll have to wait._

He released her and walked towards the door, as he reached it he turned to her, smiling, then left the hokage tower in search of a certain teen. Well, he supposed he wasn't really searching as much as going to where he knew the blonde would be, but that wasn't really the point.

After having walked from the hokage tower until he reached the jounin flats area, Jiraiya found his way to the right block, and then to the apartment where he knew Kakashi lived. He knocked on the door five times before he heard someone mumbling from inside.

"Just a minute…" He recognized the voice as Naruto's, and then he heard the loud sound of something falling to the floor. "Ouch, god damn it, fuck…" A string of curses followed before the door finally opened to reveal Naruto half-clad form. The boy was wearing a pair of slightly too big black pants and nothing more, his hair standing out in all directions.

"Did I wake you?" Jiraiya said, obviously amused at the situation seeing as he was laughing.

"Yeah," the blonde said in a displeased voice, then he opened the door fully and let the man in. "What is it, Ero-sennin?" The sannin entered the apartment, looking around and finding it surprisingly tidy, then he sat down on the sofa-bed by the living room table.

"I'm leaving on a long term mission, I just thought I'd said goodbye before I left." The blonde grabbed an apple from the kitchen and walked over to Jiraiya, settling down next to him on the sofa.

"Oh," he said, slightly confused since it was still early, after his definition, in the morning- it was somewhere close to 11 am. "What mission?" He suddenly realized he had no clue.

"It's an information gathering mission, it'll take months, though…" The blonde nodded, he understood, then he looked up to meet the elder's eyes and smiled.

"Well, you better stop by here once you come back! And you gotta tell me everything that happens when you're away." Jiraiya was the one to nod this time, then he got to his feet, almost reaching the door before he felt an arm on his shoulder.

"What is it, Naruto?" He asked, turning to face the boy.

"I'll miss you," the blonde said, then gave Jiraiya a short but firm hug. "Take care." Jiraiya could only look at the boy, he hadn't exactly expected what he'd gotten, but he didn't mind.

"You too, kid, and I will. Not that I need to, I'm the great toad sage Jiraiya, but I will…" he said, all the while thinking of how he was lying to the teen in front of him – the mission was extremely dangerous, and any mistake could cost him his life.

"Promise?" The blonde's question made sounded like so little, but it meant so much to him; the insecurities he tried so hard to hide all surfacing in his voice as he spoke.

"I'll return, kid, that's a promise." At that Naruto stepped back, smiling brightly at his former sensei.

"Thanks, Jiraiya," the blonde said. "Good bye." With a quick good bye of his own, Jiraiya turned around again and proceeded to walk out the door, waving a hand at Naruto as he left.

Naruto slammed the door shut and walked to the kitchen, looking through the freezer to see if there was any food there he could prepare for Kakashi and himself for breakfast. He settled on eggs and bacon, with toast and vegetables to go with it, then got the ingredients needed and set to work.

In his bed Kakashi groaned tiredly and rubbed his eyes, the sound of a smacking door had woken him. He sat up, still a bit groggy, and stretched his arms, letting them fall back as he though back to the day before.

_Flashback_

"_I… think I love you, Naruto…" __Kakashi said, looking into the blonde's eyes, his own mismatched were sincere._

"_Oh…"sounded the ever-intelligent reply, the blonde didn't know what to say. Kakashi had hoped for something… more, although he pushed it away at once, Naruto caught the sad look on his face, apologizing to him for yet another thing that wasn't his fault."I'm sorry," he said, upon seeing the older male's sadness he literally felt like a katana pierced his heart. "But I can't… I… I just can't, 'Kashi…" the older took his hand again, holding it firmly in his as he looked at the blonde. "I'm not ready to say that to anyone, not yet… I'd rather tell you that than lie to you and just say it without completely meaning it." He hesitated upon looking into Kakashi's eyes before he continued. "I do care for you, though, 'Kashi, and I am in love with you, it's just… I'm sorry…"Naruto knew Kakashi had already told him the same thing before, but that had been different. He'd been in the coma then, and although Kakashi had confirmed that he'd said it later he'd never actually spoken those three words to Naruto when he was awake. _

"_Naruto…" Although the older was hurt he understood the blonde's reasons, pulling the teen into a hug, holding him close. The atmosphere was tense as they pulled apart and the jounin got to his feet, walking over to his kitchen to prepare some breakfast, or rather brunch for the two._

_Flashback over_

"Damn…" Kakashi said to himself dejectedly, he'd never thought something would make him feel like he felt just now, definitely not something like what was the cause, but what he'd thought before didn't really matter in the situation. The whole day they'd gone about their new 'usual' routines avoiding each other, neither wanting to face up to what had happened between them. "Damn, why'd I have to say that…" he mumbled to himself, noticing just a little too late the blonde teen standing in the doorway, holding a tray with two plates and two glasses on it, staring at him.

"Why'd you have to say what?" the blonde asked, luckily for Kakashi, the boy was dense enough not to have understood what he was speaking about.

"Oh… Nothing…" He looked up to meet the blonde's blue eyes, the boy smiling warmly.

"Okay then… Well, I made breakfast!" Naruto walked further into the room and set the tray of food down on Kakashi's bedside table, then he crawled over Kakashi and to the free side of the bed. "Let's eat."

--

"I got Sakura in on the plan, she's going to talk to the hokage today, most likely, and ask her about Naruto's condition." Shikamaru Nodded as Neji spoke, their plan of revealing whatever it was that was wrong with Naruto was finally set into action.

"I've been trying to figure out what could possibly have happened to him myself, but I just can't seem to get any further than that it's got _something_ to do with the Sasuke retrieval mission, and probably Sasuke himself… and it has to be related to the Itachi incident, too, since it's only after that he needed a guardian." Neji appeared to be thinking, and as Shikamaru had nothing more to say they sat in silence, each in his own thoughts.

Some time passed as the two shinobi sat on the small park bench, then Neji got to his feet, Shikamaru looking up to face him.

"I have to go, work is calling," he said, Shikamaru sighed.

"I have some stuff I should be doing, too… Missions reports and preparing class for the Genin I'm subbing for… It's so troublesome…"

The Hyuuga laughed light heartedly at the statement. "…But I picture you as a quite good teacher, though." Shikamaru smiled, he actually liked teaching the kids, even if they were troublesome, and he preferred troublesome in the form of kids rather than killing any day. "Well, I'll go now, ja."

"Yeah," Shikamaru said, getting up himself. They parted ways, each having their own things to do, but thinking about the same boy.

--

Sakura smiled inwardly as she made her way home – okay, so she couldn't get Tsunade to tell her everything, but before the sannin had noticed what she was doing she'd already told her it was something Sasuke-related and that was the cause of Naruto's troubles.

_Flashback_

"_Tsunade, can I ask you something?" The sannin, who was busy reading the pile of papers lying on her desk sighed, lifting her gaze._

"_Yeah, __what?" Sakura smiled, then put on the most innocent, I'm-not-doing-anything-strange expression she could muster._

"_Well… I… I'm worried about Naruto…" Sakura paused on purpose, checking to see if her words had had the desired effect. It had._

"_It's nothing he can't get passed, Sakura," the woman said, her voice was warm and calm._

"… _but what is it? I mean, he's got a 24/7 guardian that you appointed, it's got to be something serious, and I just can't help wondering what it is… I want to help him, you know, but I feel that it's partially my fault things are like they are…" The pink haired kunoichi was, something which very few knew, a quite good actor, and as she finished speaking she could see in the blonde's eyes that she'd been convincing._

"_It's not about you, Sakura, it's… him." Sakura nodded._

"_What about him? What's he…?" She was broken off by Tsunade speaking._

"_He did something… Horrible…" Her voice was sad, but also angry and hateful._

"…" _Sakura was silenced, looking to her mentor for something, anything that would let her understand._

"_I'm sorry Sakura, but I've already told you more than I should have, I can't say any more…" The blonde smiled apologetically, and Sakura returned her expression, whilst on the inside she was smirking. She did want to know more, but the fact that she'd gotten Tsunade to tell her anything was a step in the right direction…_

_Flashback over_

The kunoichi couldn't wait to meet her boyfriend and tell him what she'd learned, sure that he'd be happy to know of it. She hummed a happy tune as she made her way homewards, all the while wondering what Sasuke could possibly have done that was so horrible – she knew Tsunade hadn't been talking about his becoming a traitor.

--

Kakashi and Naruto were sitting next to each other on the sofa, the jounin reading the newspaper he'd picked up earlier when he and Naruto were out grocery shopping, and Naruto was doing absolutely nothing, a sad expression on his face, which worried him. He put down the newspaper and turned to look at the blonde, who, as soon as he realized the older was studying him, looked up himself.

"What?" His expression was utterly confused as his eyes met Kakashi's – The jounin left his sharingan eye uncovered when he was at home, he'd been hesitant to do it, but Naruto had told him it was fine, and that he wanted to see both his eyes.

"You're quiet…" The silver-haired male stated.

"I'm not always hyper, you know… I thought you knew that much," the blonde put on an accusing expression.

"No, no, I know, but you looked sad." Kakashi took Naruto's hand in his, stroking it gently with his thumb. All the time he kept his eyes on Naruto's.

"I was thinking about _the mission_, and Itachi…" Kakashi's mind was now paying full attention to the blonde; he'd not yet told anyone what had happened when Itachi had his hands on him, maybe this was the time.

"What happened?" the words rolled of his tongue before he could think; the only thing he could do was hope Naruto wouldn't shy away. The blonde sat silently for almost a minute, his eyes closed as he tried to figure out what to do, if he should speak.

"I…" Kakashi looked kindly and encouragingly at him. "I… I can't…" He said, the memories were still too fresh, it hurt too much. Kakashi moved closer to him, putting his arms around him and holding him tight.

"Tell me what happened, Naruto, that's the only way I can help you move on…" He decided not to think things through like he usually did and rather go with his emotions, hoping it was the right thing to do. The blonde leaned into him and Kakashi could feel the teen's breath on his neck as the boy lay his head on his shoulder.

"I… He… He asked me what my biggest fear was, but I wouldn't tell him, 'cause that's what he wanted, then he," the boy choked a sob before he continued speaking. "Then he said that if I didn't tell him he'd hurt you and Sai, and I had to tell him," this time he couldn't keep the loud sob down, Kakashi doing nothing to stop it, he rather sat still and stroked the boys back calmly.

Kakashi was about to ask what Naruto's biggest fear was, thinking he didn't know what Naruto was scared of, when he suddenly realized.

"H-he made Sasuke appear, and then he…" The boy broke into tears before he could say any more, but Kakashi didn't need words to understand. He held the boy close, his arms tightening around him, stroking his back calmly with one hand.

"Shh, Naruto, don't cry," he said. He knew it probably wasn't the right thing to say or do, but what was he supposed to do, he had no idea how to comfort someone. "Don't cry, Naruto, I'll protect you."

It took minutes for the blonde to calm down, although he still acted 'himself' to the outside world that was far from who he was – who he was was the broken child only Kakashi was allowed to see; the insecure, scared boy that longed for any affection from the people around him.

"You'll… Protect me?" Naruto was hesitant as the words rolled of his tongue, no one had ever said that to him alone before, and no one had ever meant it the same way Kakashi had just now.

"Yes, Naruto, I will," he said, his voice more serious than Naruto thought he had ever heard it before. The jounin drew back just enough so that he could free his hands, lifting them to cup Naruto's face. "And even if you're not ready to say the same yet, I do love you, remember that."

The blonde was exhausted from all the emotions running through his head, leaning to the side and gently laying his head in Kakashi's lap, pulling his feet up on the couch. "Thank you," he mumbled quietly, closing his eyes and slowing his breathing – it felt so good, so safe, to be like this.

Kakashi sat still for a little while before he leaned over to the table without moving so much that it'd be uncomfortable for Naruto, then picked up the small, orange book that lay there – after considering for a moment what to do he put it down again, he had something much better than those cheap stories right there with him, right now. He leaned back against the soft cushions of the sofa and let one of his hands res on the blonde's head, wondering what he'd ever done to deserve someone so perfect.

--

"So it was something Sasuke did… Well, we pretty much knew that from before, but what the hell could he have done that'd make Tsunade just _that_ mad at him…" Shikamaru's voice faded as he sank into his own thoughts again, trying to find out more about Naruto was proving troublesome. In fact, he though, probably the only thing more troublesome than this Naruto deal would be women, possibly only his own mom.

"I seriously have no clue…" Sakura was sitting next to Neji, holding on to his arm and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"You tired, Pinky?" the Hyuuga asked, "You can to bed if you want, I'll join you shortly…" the time was quickly approaching midnight and Sakura yawned, getting to her feet.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that… Good night." With that she gave Neji a light peck on the lips and walked towards their bedroom, it'd been quite some time since she'd moved into the Hyuuga mansion, and by now she knew the place quite well.

The two boys that were now left to themselves in the living room, neither speaking for quite some time after Sakura left until Neji broke the silence.

"What do you think it is? I'm expecting you have made up some thoughts about it?" Shikamaru, who'd been staring at the air in front of him, turned to face the older boy, nodding.

"Yes, I have. I'm not sure, and it'll take some trickery to find out since so far all we know is it's got something to do with when Sasuke defected, and therefore it's also somehow probably linked with Orochimaru, and on top of that it's very, very likely got something to do with Itachi since he seems to be what triggered Naruto this time, but we have to find out now that we started, don't we?" Neji nodded, but said nothing. "As far as I've been able to deduct Naruto's fears are rooted in Sasuke, he is how it all started…"

"Go on," Neji said, waiting to hear what the boy genius had thought of.

"Thinking back I came to think of that whenever Sasuke's name was brought up, at least at the occasions I was present, he started acted differently, but not like one would expect; mad, disappointed or hurt - he rather acted hateful, scared and avoided the topic as much as he could, sometimes he even flinched, I remember, it was like he was trying to block something out… I read something about such things a while back, and it's similar to what something someone who's been abused would do, so I'm thinking Sasuke did _something_ to him back then." Shikamaru didn't want to say any more, even for his rational mind something like what he thought they might uncover seemed just horribly wrong and disgusting.

Neji nodded, Shikamaru thankful that he didn't have to explain any further, and fell into though for something like a minute before he spoke. "So, how do we find out?"

"I'm not entirely sure of that part, not yet, but we have to trick him into giving us some clue, anything that can lead us to find out if we're on the right track." The Hyuuga again nodded, looking at the younger teen.

"I suppose you're right…" Neji yawned, attempting to cover his mouth with his hand just a little too late, and Shikamaru smiled.

"I'll be going now, I can see that your getting tired," the Hyuuga laughed lightly, "and so am I."

"See you later, Shika," Neji said, then watched the boy leave before he himself went to the bathroom to clean up and then went to his bedroom, laying down besides the sleeping girl who'd gone to bed earlier.

--

Jiraiya was well on his way to sound territory, he'd been going at full speed all day, finally deciding to settle down for the night, checking in at an anonymous inn in a small village that probably wasn't even on any maps. He'd already eaten and was currently sitting in the male side of the small hot springs that were there, attempting to peek into through the fence at the women he could hear idly chatting away.

He wasn't really thinking of anything in particular, well, nothing except for possible content for his next novel, when he heard something that piqued his interest not just a little.

"Oh, and did you see the Akatsuki that passed by just some days ago…" One of the voices said, sounding almost fangirlish.

"Oh, were there Akatsuki here… I didn't notice." Another said.

"Yeah, it was the guy in the black capes with the red wave-things on them…" the first said again, the lowered her voice to a whisper. "I think one of them was Uchiha Itachi, he had that pale skin and black hair, and he was tall too… and this weird fish-guy was with him, too…"

"No way… what would Akatsuki be doing here?" The second voice asked. _Please have an answer to that._

"Well, I don't really know, but I heard some guys saying that they were looking for some beast or something, I don't know… it was like, a tailed beast or something like that, I don't know what it is…"

"Ohh…"

The girls kept chatting, but Jiraiya tuned out of their conversation, thinking over what he'd just heard. After considering it for some time he decided to send a note to Tsunade and see if he could follow the trail, it might just turn out to be something important.

--

As things were slowly nearing an almost normal state in Konoha, a pale, black-haired boy sat in a dark room somewhere deep within the lair that had until earlier that day been Orochimaru's headquarter. Yes, Orochimaru was dead, he'd killed him just as he'd killed his right hand man, Kabuto, and tomorrow he was leaving, after he'd gathered the three people he'd already decided to take with him due to their powers, setting out to take down his older brother, Itachi.

Sitting on the not-so-comfortable bed he started thinking about how his life had been up until now, images flashing past his eyes of his time spent in sound, when a picture of an Akatsuki member he'd met some time ago, what was his name? D… Dei… Deiara or something like that, passed through his thoughts he started thinking of another blonde, his former best friend, Naruto.

Speaking of his best friend, he couldn't seem to get the blonde boy out of his mind although years had passed since _that time_. At first, his thoughts towards the blonde were of regret out of what he did and fear of what he himself had become, but spending a long time in Sound with people like Orochimaru and Kabuto, being exposed to all the corrupting things that he had, something within him had changed. Oh, how his thoughts of the blonde had changed, the boy he used to long for as a friend and brother, the boy he used to feel regret towards; he now only felt a macabre, twisted sense of lust when he pictured his clear blue eyes and tanned skin. He lusted to feel the boy, to be inside him, and he lusted to have the blonde writhing and screaming beneath him, but what scared him the most, although he wouldn't admit that he was scared, was that he lusted to see the blonde in pain.

_After I've killed him, I'm coming home, and when I do I'll make you mine…_

He smirked at himself, a smirk so devious and malicious it was only fit for a Cheshire cat, and lay down on the bed, thinking of what things he wanted to do to the blonde as he slowly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

**More Ramblings: ****For those of you who listened to the song I told you about last time, did you like it?**


	17. Chapter 16

**Random Rambling: **So sorry that this took so long, but my writers block won't go away, so this has been written in the moments when it let go for like periods of hours… I hate that damn blockness! P There was one review that really helped me get this chapter finished and so all of you should thank **SnowBlizzard** for getting me in a writing mood again )  
Thank you very much!

Further…  
I'm on top of the world right now, cause the sweetest boy in the world is mine, and he's so wonderful I don't even know where to start! Only thing is he lives far away, like flying distance, and I want to see him so bad.  
That is something that might show when I write the next chapter too, I've got a feeling that fluffy moments might get even sweeter )

Well, here's the chapter for you, enjoy!

**Chapter 16**

**Wake me up from this dream when the world stops being a nightmare**

Jiraiya sighed and lay down on the thin, uncomfortable futon in his hotel-room. He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head, staying that way for just a moment before he sat up again, thoughts racing through his mind about the things he'd learned little more than a week ago.

The sannin stretched his sore, tired limbs before he started looking through his bag until he eventually found an unused piece of paper and a pen, then he started writing. As quick as the message was finished, which took some time, longer than if it were only a note since he had to encrypt it in case it fell into enemy hands. He gave it to one of his toad summons, telling it to go straight to Konoha and deliver the message to Tsunade. The small paper was fully covered in Jiraiya's messy handwriting, but what was on it was of utter importance. The things he'd stated in the letter were his findings so far from his mission, and what he'd found was that firstly; Sasuke killed Orochimaru and his right-hand, Kabuto, and made a 'team' which he'd given the name Hebi, consisting of himself, two males, Juugo and Suigetsu, and a woman, Karin. Each member of the team had a special ability, which was the reason the youngest Uchiha had picked each of them, and now the boy had set out to find and kill his older brother Itachi. The mention of Itachi in the letter had lead him over to the matter of the Akatsuki searching for the tailed beasts, the Jinchuuriki, and that already they'd gotten a hold of the one-, and two-tails. The letter also mentioned some small things about disturbances in different areas and where the Akatsuki had traveled, which hadn't been so hard to find out, and also a little bit about Sasuke's four man cell and their movements, which had been decidedly harder to figure out.

As soon as the toad had left, he decided that he'd take a short walk. He was currently staying in one of the most anonymous inns he could find, explaining the low quality of his futon, and for that matter everything else in the room he was occupying, and needed some air. Once he'd left the inn he headed towards the closest bar, sitting down on one of the barstools, ordering some sushi and a bottle of Sake, he deserved a break.

--

"Good, Naruto. Sai, you seem to be slacking today." Yamato smiled at his two male students, Naruto smiling back, and Sai, who was supporting the blonde, let the corners of his lips move a little upwards, something which translated into his version of a smile.

"Th-anks," Naruto said, he was still panting from the match, then moved away from Sai and went to sit beneath a large tree, resting his back against it. "God, how long is it gonna take before I'm back to normal? I hate getting tired like this!" Yamato was about to answer Naruto's question, but Sakura beat him to it.

"Well, based on how long you were out you're getting better extremely fast, Naruto. If it keeps going this rate you'll probably be physically ready for a mission in just another week or so." Naruto looked questioningly at the girl, not understanding why she'd said he'd be _physically_ ready, she didn't know anything about _that_, but he passed it off as just something she said, nodding.

"Damn, I wanna be better now, I miss missions and all that stuff…" he pouted, making Yamato and Sakura both laugh, Sai's lips forming into something resembling a smile.

"You'll be up for them in no time, Naruto, just be careful and don't strain yourself too much right now, and you'll be completely healed soon." Yamato smiled at seeing the blondes displeased expression, laughing.

"But…" Naruto knew he wouldn't get anyways arguing not matter what he said, deciding to save his energy for better things. "Never mind… are we done for the day yet?" The blonde looked at his sensei, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, sure… Sai, Sakura, you may go home – Naruto, you're coming with me." Naruto nodded, that was the routine now, that when they were done training Yamato would take him to where they'd arranged to meet Kakashi. However much it annoyed the blonde, Tsunade had decided that he couldn't go unsupervised, and without his knowing she also had two ANBU on guard duty outside of Kakashi's house every night.

As they approached where they'd be meeting Kakashi, Naruto looked around, noticing that several of the villagers were putting up decorations, and more than usual glares were directed at him. Yamato also noticed, suddenly realizing why; it was the first of October, they were preparing for the October festival and the day of Kyuubi no Kitsune's defeat – incidentally also Naruto's birthday.

"Naruto…" He didn't know what to say, but it wasn't hard telling the blonde wasn't exactly feeling great, his usual energy seemed to have completely have been drained from him.

"It's ok, really, Yamato, I'm used to it." Tenzo looked at his student, sadness in his eyes; the boy really didn't deserve the life he'd had. "It's like this every year, I just have to lay low 'til it's over, nothing worse than that…"

"But you shouldn't have to, Naruto," the older male said calmly. "It's just quite infuriating to see this all, the way they act towards you after all you've done for them. " Naruto sighed.

"Calm down, ne, Yamato. It's not like it's entirely their fault, that fox killed their families, their friends… I'd hate it too, I think…"

"…" Yamato was out of words, the blonde had an incredible ability of seeing things from all angles, but to actually think like that, he had no idea the blonde had so much too him.

"These things aren't so bad to deal with, they have a reason that I've learned to understand. I still think it's unfair, but I've come to terms with that this is the way things are, but betrayal and hate without reason, that's something I find much worse." The blonde's tone was serious, much more serious, and Yamato was brought back from his thoughts. He looked at Naruto, the boy's eyes not revealing anything to most people, but to someone as trained as Yamato; he could see the hurt in those blue eyes, the betrayal. _What the hell have you been through, Naruto? What was it really that happened?_

"You're so much more than people give you credit for…" Yamato was stunned, and his thoughts slipped right out passed his lips.

"Thanks, I guess," the blonde said, then added "We're here."

"Oh. Well, guess we just have to wait for…"

"Me?" Yamato was silenced. Naruto was shocked. Kakashi was _on time_. "I am capable of showing up on time, you know, I just have to have… Let's say, motivation." He grinned; Yamato and Naruto were still too shocked to do anything.

"Well…" Naruto said as soon as his mind returned to him. "What exactly was your motivation?" He smiled, waiting for the answer.

"Well, let's just say that a little fox cub that I saw today just made me want to be here…" He smirked, judging by Naruto's expression the teen hadn't even come close to understanding who he was talking about, he looked completely dumbfounded.

"Thank the baby fox next time you see him, eh, Kakashi?" Yamato said playfully, "and tell him to work his wonders a little more often, please!" Following his comment he nodded to them both before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the two alone.

Kakashi looked at the blonde boy there with him, noting the blonde's sad aura, and the blonde met the elder's eyes, an awkward silence falling over them. Naruto seemed not himself today, Kakashi thought; lately the blonde had seemed happier, but today it would appear that that happiness was gone.

"Naruto," the blonde, who'd, even though his eyes had been on Kakashi's, been in his own thoughts, seemed to snap back to reality. "Let's go home." The silver haired male moved closer to the blonde, putting the smaller hand in his, and they walked in silence to what had become _their_ home.

--

Nara Shikamaru was without an answer. For probably the first time in his life he was unable to answer a question, and what was worse was that this only question that he'd ever been unable to answer was probably one of the most serious he'd ever had to think of.

He'd gone through every possible scenario he could think of, but he still couldn't understand how things had become what they were. How someone could have done _that_ to anyone else, especially Naruto. Yes, he already knew what had happened with Naruto, he'd figured that out almost immediately when they started talking; the blonde had been raped. Since they're shinobi, physical abuse couldn't have been a one-time thing, it'd have to have been a drawn out process, and so would mental abuse, so considering Naruto changing the way he had that couldn't be it. Knowing Naruto the way he did and seeing how the blonde had been acting had been the last piece of the puzzle to see what had happened, and it still hadn't completely dawned on the genius boy that something so horrible could have happened to Naruto.

What he'd spent more time pondering than the actual action that had happened to Naruto though was who had been the one to commit it; he'd arrived at the conclusion that it at least, somehow, had to involve Sasuke.

There was still one thing they had yet to do, and that was attempt to get some information out of Naruto – and they still hadn't come up with a possibly functioning plan to do so. Shikamaru was racking his brain for something that might work, hoping for a decent idea, when it suddenly came to him. He knew it was sneaky, wrong, against all moral and something he didn't want to and knew he shouldn't do, but it was a nearly foolproof plan, so it was pretty much their best shot at getting anything out of the blonde; get him drunk.

--

"…I mean, I get that it's serious and all, and I want to find out what's wrong with Naruto, but it can't be that serious, can it? And I know Sasuke can't have done anything, he's a gentleman, really… He probably had his motives for leaving, although he didn't tell me…" Sakura kept on chattering about Sasuke and how kind he was, her voice fading to the back of Neji's mind. Recently he'd started to wonder why the hell he'd started dating her; the girl was so very different from him, and so… He wasn't sure shallow was the right word to use, the girl did have some depth (although it was not very deep, so to say), but it was the only word he could come up with the fit even the least for the time being.

"Have you thought about the possibility that Sasuke maybe isn't the gentleman or good boy that you give him credit for, Sakura? That maybe, just maybe, you're blinded by this childish affection I know you'll always hold for him?" The girl flinched visibly, his words hat hit home.

"N-No, he's my teammate, and I choose to trust that he hasn't done anything, there has to be some other explanation." Her voice was firm, her resolution faltering.

"Tell me one thing, Sakura, please; If you have such faith in him, if he did nothing wrong, how the fuck did he end up a traitor to Konoha? What can possibly have earned him the hokage's wrath, huh?" His voice was angry, fitting his mood. Dating the pink-haired girl, he thought, was a decision he was starting to regret.

"I… They might not know it all, there's probably another side to the story, Neji…" Sakura's voice wasn't as sure now as before, she knew she was probably naïve to believe Sasuke wasn't involved in what was happening to Naruto in any other way than having left Konoha, but she just couldn't face the reality of what Sasuke could have done. What he could have become.

"Sakura, you know as well as I do that he has to have _something_ to do with it, and from what you managed to get from Tsunade it can't be something little, either, that wouldn't make her react like she did. Just grow up and face it, I know you can, you just don't want to." Her eyes saddened a bit, what he was telling her was something she already knew.

"I know, it's just…" She was cut off by the Hyuuga speaking.

"It's just that your childish crush on him won't let you move past it, is that it? Well, if you're still in love with him so much that you can't even see the things he's caused to happen back home, what he brought to other people that you care about," guilt flooded her mind just thinking about Naruto, "then why the hell are you dating me, Sakura?" He was mad, she could hear, and she decided to end the discussion, there was no point in keeping it going due to her childish dreams, risking what she had right there in front of her.

"He's just a childish dream, Neji, you're right, and you're right here, and I love you…" She looked at him with apologetic eyes, waiting.

"Sure," he said, a shiver running down her back from the coldness in his voice. "I'm going out for a walk…" With that he threw on a jacket and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him too quick to see a tear fall from the girl's eyes.

--

"Karin, is he nearby?" A black haired boy asked a woman.

"Yes, Sasuke, he's close alright… I'm pretty sure it's no more than 3 kilometers at the most to where he's at, but he's with someone, though… four people, I'd say. Kisame is in the group, and two I can't recognize." The woman looked at him, lust filling her eyes at the sight of the Uchiha, but she pushed that aside for now.

"Okay. We'll camp here for tonight." Sasuke, Karin and the two other males that were with them were standing in a quite secluded place forest with just enough space to set up camp for the night. "Suigetsu, you're taking the first watch." The raven turned to a boy thinner than himself who was carrying a large sword. The boy nodded and started lighting a fire, then he climbed into a large tree, settling almost at the top of it, and kept watch around the camp. The three others didn't spend long setting up camp, and soon enough they were in each their tent, Karin and the other male, Juugo, sleeping, Sasuke enveloped in his own thoughts.

The raven lay still in his sleeping bag, his eyes closed and his bodily functions were as if he were sleeping, but in reality he was wide awake, thoughts of what he was going to be doing very soon running through his head. Tomorrow would be the day when he'd confront his older brother, Uchiha Itachi, and kill him, finally avenging his family. As his mind slowly started slipping towards dreamland he once more saw a familiar head of blonde hair, a whisker-marked face, and crystal blue eyes staring straight into his soul, a clear tear running down his cheek.

Sasuke wanted to feel sorry for the boy, he desperately wanted to feel remorse for what he'd done, he knew that deep inside, but all these dark feelings he'd been having found their way to the surface, pushing aside the warm ones, making him think of nothing but the things he wanted to do to the blonde. To Naruto.

He felt himself get hard at just the thought of what he'd be doing to the boy once he got his hands on him, how he'd make him scream, plead, moan and cry… It was too much to take for him as he slipped a hand into his boxers, grabbing his erection and stroking his hand up and down. As he felt himself nearing completion the only thing he could see was Naruto, the only thing he could feel, smell and sense was the blonde that he'd been longing for for so long. His hand moved faster and faster up and down his shaft until he came, an image of a smiling, young Naruto in his mind, then he fell asleep – though tonight his sleep wasn't untouched, no, images of both his family, including his older brother whom he was soon to kill, and Naruto were haunting his dreams.

--

Kakashi and Naruto were sitting in the sofa, Kakashi deep in his own thoughts whilst Naruto was looking through some technique scrolls, seemingly tired seeing as he kept yawning and stretching.

Naruto hadn't been acting himself ever since Kakashi had met up with him after training, and the silver haired jounin couldn't help but wonder if it might have something to do with Naruto's upcoming birthday and the preparations for the October festival that had started just today. As the blonde was silently reading his scrolls, Kakashi was watching him closely, searching for any indicator to how the blonde was feeling - the boy never spoke of his innermost feelings unasked, and Kakashi didn't want to upset him by asking - but nothing showed.

"Um," He wanted to start a conversation, but he wasn't sure what to say. "How's training?"

"It's good… I can't wait to get back on active duty again, you know, missions and stuff." The blonde looked up from his current scroll, his blue eyes meeting Kakashi's, which were very distant... "'Kashi?" The teen tried, getting through.

"Yeah? Sorry, I was just thinking…" _About how much you look like your father, how much you are like him, and how much you remind me of Obito…_

"What of?" The blonde asked, Kakashi considered the option of telling him the truth no longer than a split second, settling with not doing so.

"Oh, nothing in particular, just how wonderful you are…" He took Naruto's left hand in his and held it loosely, fiddling with the blondes fingers. The blonde took to blushing; leaning in and placing one of his chaste, wonderful kisses on the elder's lips.

"You're too sweet, koi," Naruto said, then got to his feet. "I'll go take a shower, I haven't had one yet…" Kakashi looked at him with a mock look of disgust before he laughed and said something Naruto didn't quite catch as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

As soon as he got into the not-exactly-spacious room the blonde turned on the shower, it took it a little white to turn hot, then he stripped out of his clothes and threw them in the dirty laundry basket before he got in the shower.

Once he stepped into the water he wished he'd never have to step out; the warm water on his sore limbs felt wonderful, the clean feeling he got something he happily welcomed. When he felt his hair was thoroughly soaked, he took some shampoo in his hands and gently worked it into his blonde locks, then rinsed it out again; the smell of oranges quickly spreading throughout the bathroom.

He bent down to reach for the soap, suddenly freezing when he saw Kakashi's razor laying beside it, his mind racing. He wanted to take it so very bed, to touch it to his skin and feel the pain – and he had no idea why. The damn piece of metal just lay there, silently tempting him, and in the end he picked it up, unable to resist. Slowly, he put the metal to his forearm, hesitating. _The blood… Kakashi'll have to notice, I have to do something to conceal it…_

The blonde poured some soap to the shower floor, noticing the orange-smell cloud that came, then again put the razor to his skin, this time applying just the right amount of pressure to make them pierce his skin and push a little into the flesh, making him wince in pain. He quickly pulled the razor away and watched the blood mix with water and drip away, his arm stinging as warm water ran over the newly formed wound. Suddenly his eyes welled up with tears until there were too many and they started falling from his eyes, mixing with the water from the shower, all the feelings that his mind had locked away beginning to surface for real.

He felt the sadness over losing his very best friend, the betrayal, hurt and fear after what the boy had done, then he felt weak and worthless for not being stronger, he felt unworthy of Kakashi, tired of everything and just plain right out, he was tired of life being what it was. It was almost unbelievable to even think the pain that just one little cut had brought him as he collapsed to the shower floor with a soft 'thud'. Again he put the metal against his skin, although only weakly this time, just to make some of the emotions subside, there were so many.

In the living room Kakashi was getting uneasy, there'd been a smell that seemed a mix of something familiar and oranges, and then he'd heard some sort of thud-like sound. Carefully he walked over to the bathroom-door and knocked it gently, still wondering what the smell might be.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, _What the fuck do I do now,_ he thought.

"You ok, Naruto?" Kakashi was getting worried, and Naruto's slightly frantic voice wasn't helping.

"Yeah, I'm just fine, 'Kashi," the boy replied, stepping out of the shower and rummaging through the medical cabinet for any form of a bandage they might have. "I just… have this scrape on my arm from I don't know where that I have to clean up, I'll be out after that, though."

"Ok, then, Naru-chan, I'll be jumping to bed now, good night." The jounin still wasn't convinced, actually he doubted the blonde was telling the truth, but he'd let it slip for now, he could find out later. He walked into his bedroom and started stripping down, he and Naruto had worked out that he'd sleep on the bed and Naruto on the sofa – if no other reason than because Naruto would feel guilty if he stole Kakashi's bed, and when he only had his boxers left he crawled in between the sheets and pulled the covers on him, laying down quietly.

Approximately 2 hours later he still hadn't fallen asleep, too many thought racing through his head at once – of the blonde, the Uchiha, the world they lived in and just in general anything else. He's lying with his eyes closed when he hears the door open and close, feeling a person he knew to be Naruto enter the room and lay down beside him on the bed, obviously assuming the older to be asleep.

"Sorry, koi. Sorry I'm so weak, sorry for what I've become, sorry… Forgive me, 'Kashi…" The boy whispered, not meaning for Kakashi to hear it, and so the jounin stayed silent. The boy seemed exhausted, falling asleep soon, drained by yet another burst of emotions. Carefully, as not to wake the boy, Kakashi put his arms gently around him, placing a brief kiss on his soft lips and then waits for sleep himself.


	18. Chapter 17

Random Rambling:

**Random Rambling:**** Well, here's chapter 17 for you all, and again sorry for the long wait… Life keeps me busy even if I wish I could write more… Right now I should be doing a 4 page essay, I'm just too into holiday mode… Yes, that's right, vacation here ) And tomorrow I'm going down to Oslo, and my bf's coming there to be with me happy  
Yeah, that's why this is called random rambling P  
Well, enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 17**

**xXx**

I can feel you all around me  
Thickening the air I'm breathing  
Holding on to what I'm feeling  
Savoring this heart that's healing

Take my hand  
I give it to you  
Now you own me  
All I am  
You said you would never leave me  
I believe you  
I believe

All Around Me by Flyleaf

**xXx**

Kakashi woke up before Naruto, but he didn't want to wake the blonde, opening his eyes to look at the boy but remained still. The blonde was lying curled up, facing Kakashi; his head on a corner of his pillow, holding on to the rest of it, and even after his words of last night his face looked calm and peaceful, not at all troubled for once. Suddenly he moved, exposing his left inner arm, and Kakashi saw the many old scars he'd seen before, then he noticed that there were new ones, too. One of them was shallow, one deeper, and at the sight of them he felt his heart drop. _Why, Naruto? Why? What did I do wrong? Are there things you still aren't telling me? How deep are your wounds?_He let his eyes once again look over the sleeping form, a feeling of hopelessness spreading throughout him. _What do I have to do to help you past this, please just say it, cause I'll do anything that I can for you – I'd give my life for you, Naruto, because you're worth so insanely much to me. _

The man's mind was a mess of thoughts, all of them revolving around the teen lying next to him right that moment. As he managed to calm down slightly he cleared up his mind a little, deciding to give the boy a chance to tell him. He'd give Naruto till the end of the day, but if he hadn't spoken by then, Kakashi thought, he'd have to confront him about it.

Carefully, figuring Naruto would need the sleep he could get, and knowing the boy would have to get up in an hour for training anyways, he got out of bed and walked over to his closet, pulling out some new clothes before he headed to the bathroom. It only took the jounin about 10 minutes to finish up in the bathroom, then he walked into the kitchen and made a cup of instant coffee, his savior, before he started making breakfast for two.

After 20 minutes of attempting to make something good-looking Kakashi gave up and decided making something tasty instead, taking out eggs, bread, butter, bacon and some tomatoes and cucumber from the fridge, laying it all down on the bench. It didn't take long before the whole living room and kitchen area smelled of food, and just as he was done Kakashi's stomach let out a loud growl as if on cue. Taking one of the bacon-slices and stuffing it in his mouth he picked up the tray on which he'd placed two plates of toast, eggs, bacon, veggies and two glasses of orange juice and headed to the bedroom. As he neared the bedroom he knocked on the door hard enough to wake the blonde who was still half asleep, and entered the room.

As the door started to open Naruto's mind frantically searched for a way he could hide his arms, when he woke up they'd been beneath the covers, and hopefully it'd been like that when Kakashi woke up too, hopefully he hadn't seen. The blonde ended up pulling a long sleeved black shirt that was lying on the floor right besides his side of the bed, sitting tied up in black fabric that hadn't gotten further than his waist when Kakashi stepped in.

"Morning Naruto… Why in such a hurry to dress, your training isn't before 9 and it's only ten to eight now…" As he'd already decided, Kakashi pretended he hadn't seen anything, feeling Naruto's chakra calm down.

"I… I must have read the clock wrong," Naruto said, gesturing to the digital watch on the nightstand on his side of the bed. "You made breakfast," he said, sounding quite happy, as he noticed the tray Kakashi was holding after he'd managed to get loose from the evil shirts hold.

"Yeah, since I was up early anyways I figured why not, want some?" Kakashi, who was wearing his forehead protector in front of one eye but his mask down, smiled a one eyed smile, sitting down on the bed and placing the tray down gently after Naruto had straightened out the bed sheets enough for it to stand steadily.

Naruto leaned over the tray and placed a kiss just a little longer than usual on Kakashi's lips, then they both started eating, talking, but nothing of the previous night's incident was brought up by either of them.

--

Iruka was sitting at his desk, his class of little ninja-aspirants looking to him with excited eyes. The class he was currently teaching were all in their first year, still happy to be in school, and he adored them. He Yawned. He adored this class, but he found the older ones more fun, they were more lively and prankish, and reminded him more of Naruto and the gang when they were little… How he missed those days…

And how he missed Naruto, he hadn't talked to the blonde for ages, and for the past few weeks he'd only occasionally seen the blonde or run into him when they were both going places, they never seemed to find the time to be together any longer.

As the kids were busy doing some simple exercises on planning and strategy Iruka had more than enough time to think, then the bell rang, signaling that the school day was over.

"Okay then, you little ninja wannabes," he said kindly, that's what he called them, his ninja wannabes, "you may go home, but be sure to have all the exercises on page 45 completed by tomorrow."

The children nodded, then they shut their books and threw whatever stuff they had into their school bags and left, leaving Iruka standing alone in the classroom. The chuunin was tired, more so emotionally than physically, and he let himself sink into his chair, burying his head in his hands. As the first tear fell from his eye a feeling of hopelessness and weakness slowly creeping up on him until he found himself crying unstoppably, loud sobs escaping his throat whenever he too new breaths.

"W-what's h-h-happening to m-me?" His voice was shaking as he voiced his question although he knew there was no one there to answer it. "Why won't he talk to me any more?" he continued, whispering. Ever since he'd passed down being Naruto's guardian he'd just felt worse and worse, the fact that he'd hardly seen Naruto since he got out of the hospital hadn't exactly helped.

Suddenly he heard a knock on the door followed by the handle being pulled down and the door opening slowly; attempting to pull himself together he dried his tears on his sleeves and put on a smile that threatened to falter any second.

"Hey Iruka, are you still here?" He heard Genma's familiar voice just as the older male stepped into the room.

"Y-yeah," he said, his voice still a little shaky, "I'm here… What're you doing here?"

"Well, I remembered I had a class in here earlier when you were out training shuriken techniques, and I forgot some papers… Right there, those on the desk, they're mine…" Genma walked up to the desk and picked up the pages, then noticed the drops that were Iruka's tears that had dropped to the desk. "Iruka, look at me."

Iruka looked up, his eyes were red and slightly swollen from crying, dried up tear-tracks were running down his cheeks. He said nothing, his eyes just stared blankly at his friend, said friend starting to worry very much.

"What happened, Iruka?" Genma asked, worry was clear in his voice. "What's wrong?" He walked around the desk to Iruka's side, turned the chuunin's chair to face him and bent down till he was eye-level with the other male.

"I-It's nothing, Gen…" he said, quickly cut off by Genma's voice.

"Don't tell me it's nothing Iruka, I can see that there's _something_. Now tell me, what's going on? Why were you crying, Dolphin?" Iruka had to laugh – that name, dolphin, was something Genma had called him forever, teasing him for the fact that his name was, if spelt with the right characters, the same as the fish's.

"It's just… It's Naruto, I guess," He started, sniffing and drying up the tears that he could feel started forming in his eyes again. "Ever since he got out of the hospital I haven't really talked to him, and I worry for him, Gen… There's more to that situation than most people know, and he's not speaking to me about anything any longer… I'm so scared I'll lose him, Genma, it feels like I already have… And the fact that there's nothing I can do for him… I just…" Even through his attempts to keep them back, tears found their way from his eyes, and Iruka gave up on drying them, letting them fall. Genma moved behind Iruka's chair and put his arms around the smaller man's shoulders, hugging him.

"Iruka, calm down, breathe," the older man said, and Iruka obeyed, feeling a little better. "I'm sure that it's not that he doesn't want to spend time with you as much as it is that there's a lot going on for him right now, but I suggest you go see him tonight and talk to him – I'm sure he'll appreciate it. As for the fact that he's not telling you things, give him time, either that or just ask the right questions and I'm sure he'll open up to you again…" Genma let go of his long-time friend and again walked around the chair to face him, noticing that Iruka looked calmer, a slight smile appearing on his face. "That's better."

"Thanks, Gen, you're a good friend." Iruka smiled and Genma returned the gesture. _A friend, that's all I'll ever be, isn't it? _Genma had had a crush on the chuunin for a very long time, but he'd never really done anything about it, and now that the younger man was already in a relationship he was sure there could never be anything between them – in nothing else then there was the fact that Iruka was straight.

"I'm always here for you, Dolphin." Genma managed a smile even though it was hard, he knew that right now the last thing Iruka needed was for someone to mess up the only stable thing in his life, and he didn't want to make the man's life any harder. "Know that, okay?"

"I know, Genma," Iruka said warmly "and I'm so grateful for that that you have no idea." He smiled, drying the last of his tears, then he got to his feet to. "What do you say, let's call it a day…" he started walking towards the door, Genma following.

"Sounds good to me, I'm tired…" they walked out the door and started down the empty hall.

"Hey… Shizune is on a mission to Sunagakure for Tsunade this week, wanna go grab a beer tomorrow, since it's Friday and all? Guess we could both need it, just to relax and have a good time, you know…" Iruka smiled at Genma, and though the man knew it was probably a bad idea he couldn't help but agree, smiling. "See you tomorrow after work then! Bye, Gen." Iruka waved as he and Genma parted ways, Genma merely smiling back as they walked each to their own.

_--_

Neji and Sakura were sitting in one of the many gardens of the Hyuuga compound in a strange silence, none knowing what to say until Neji cleared his throat as a warning he was about to speak.

"Sakura, I've been thinking a little…" He looked at the pinkette who suddenly got a nervous look in her eyes as she looked back at him. "And I've come to a conclusion." Now her full attention was on him.

"Please don't say this is about what I think it is…" She couldn't be sure, but she'd been having a sinking feeling about their relationship lately, and after their fight she'd been worried something would happen. "If it's just over the fight yesterday, I'm sorry bout that, I wasn't thinking…" The look in his eyes was telling her he didn't really care for excuses, shutting her up and sending shivers down her spine.

"If I know you like I think I do that's just what it's about, Pinky." The fact that he called her by that name made a feeling of sadness well up inside her, and although crying was the last thing to do she could feel that she'd easily start. "I've been thinking, as I said, and I've come to the conclusion that it's best for us to break up…" He was cut off by the girl's voice.

"Why?" That one simple question was all she said, all she could say and all she wanted to ask at that moment.

"Why? Because we're two completely different people, Sakura, and I can't be with someone like you – you're so… Well, I don't think shallow is the right word, you don't deserve that, but you're just so naïve when you want to be, and it stops you from seeing things clearly, and the way that you act on certain matters… I just can't take people that would be like that towards their so called friends… And this obsession you've got with shadows of the past, I just can't take it any longer… I'm breaking up with you, Sakura, I'm sorry." His voice was sincerely apologetic when he spoke, yet it was cold at the same time. His mind was already made on the matter of dumping the girl, and he'd known it would be hard, but he also knew it was the right thing for him to do.

"Oh…" She didn't know what else to say, and knowing the boy as well as she did she knew there'd be no fighting about things, so instead of starting something she got to her feet, nodding at her now ex and lifting a hand as goodbye, then she turned her back to him and left as quickly as she could, she didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes.

Neji's expression was blank as he sat thinking, then he looked at his watch, got to his feet and sighed – Shikamaru would be there any second, He'd already spoken to the boy-genius and agreed on meeting him that day. Just as he sat thinking about their coming meeting he heard something to his left, looking just in time to see Shikamaru enter the garden through the kitchen door.

The boy that had just arrived walked over to the bench Neji had been occupying until right before his arrival, slumping down and tilting his head up towards the sky.  
"So," he said, "I'm feeling a vibe, wanna tell me what's happened?" Shikamaru wasn't stupid, and the air in the courtyard was tense, he pondered whether or not it might be possible to, if not cut it with a knife then at least annoy it by poking it.

"I…" Neji wasn't sure if he wanted to tell anyone, at least not yet, but knowing Shikamaru the boy wouldn't tell anyone else, so it couldn't hurt, he figured. "…broke up with Sakura, just before you came."

Shikamaru nodded, he'd almost expected it – Neji and the pinkette just didn't go together, they were too different. Neji knew Shikamaru understood, and for some reason he felt more relaxed after telling, like, well, like his heart was a little lighter.

"Now then, to the reason for your being here… Have you found anything out concerning Naruto?" Neji looked expectantly at the younger male as he spoke.

"Well, nothing concrete, but I think I've found a way to make him talk…" Neji raised an eyebrow in question, waiting for more. "This may sound stupid, but I've found it's probably the best way to get him to talk, and on top of that it should be pretty much foolproof… We get him drunk." Shikamaru tilted his head back once more to look at the clouds again, the amusing image of Neji looking like a goldfish stuck on his mind.

"Uhm," Neji said once he'd closed his mouth and processed what Shikamaru had said. "Did you say what I think you said? Really? Because that is very, very unlike you." Shikamaru smiled.

"Yeah, you heard me correctly, Neji, and I know that it's unlike me to suggest something so… Well, something like that, but it's the only thing I could come up with that might work. Now, when do we take him on a 'boy's night out'?" Neji shook his head at his companion, still processing.

"Well…" He said after a while. "How about Friday… That's two days from now…" Shikamaru nodded and smiled schemingly, which wasn't something he did often, then got to his feet again.

"See you Friday, Neji… I'll get Naruto to come, and I'll drop a note 'bout where we'll meet. Bye." With that Shikamaru disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Neji to wonder by himself. The Hyuuga sat down on the bench, and taking after Shikamaru looked up at the clouds – that actually was quite nice, he could see why the other liked it so much.

--

"Otouto, Sasuke," Itachi panted the words, the male was about to collapse, but he had something to say before he'd let that happen. "Thank you, I've been waiting for this, I'm proud that you've come this far, but…" He was cut off as he started coughing, blood spraying from his mouth. "But don't do what I did, I'm sure you have things that are precious to you somewhere, treasure them, don't become like me…" He stretched out a hand - Sasuke standing ready to defend himself thinking it's another attack - and pokes his younger brothers forehead, then he collapses on the ground.

"Itachi," Sasuke's voice is hateful as he speaks, yet there is something to it that tells the older that maybe, just maybe, some of what he said got through to his younger brother. "What I do is up to me, and what is precious to me I already lost. My family, brother, and my very best friend – well, my family is dead, as you know, and my friend – I did unforgiveable things to him, so the only thing left for me to do is become like you." With that Sasuke turned around, walking away, and it was one of the hardest things he'd ever done, because he wanted so badly to ask his brother why he'd done what he did, but he didn't want to admit to himself the weakness of still caring. As he walked away he never turned back, so he didn't see the last desperate look his brother sent his way before he fell dead in a pool of his own blood, thinking of what had become of the brother he loved.

"Suigetsu, Juugo, Karin, we're headed for Konoha." Sasukes let a devilish smirk take over on his face, walking ahead of his pack in the direction of Konoha, his hometown, and the place he knew he'd find what he wanted. "I'll be leading the way, we're only a couple of days journey away from _home._" His voice when he said that last word was enough to send shivers down anyone's spine, and his three companions stayed a safe distance away, following him silently. _Very soon, Naruto, I'll be seeing you again, and this time I'll make you mine…_

--

Kakashi sighed; the day had passed like any other, and Naruto still hadn't said anything, but he'd done a heck of a good job of hiding his new cuts.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, placing a hand on the younger's – they were sitting beside each other in the sofa, they'd just finished eating dinner. "If there was something troubling you you'd tell me, right?" Naruto felt Kakashi getting at something, but he decided to play along, feeling his heart beating faster in his chest.

"Of course I would, 'Kashi…" Naruto's voice failed him as Kakashi quickly took a hold of his arm and pulled back the sleeve covering it. The look in Kakashi's eyes wasn't shocked, angry or any such thing, no it was sad. "You knew…?" Naruto asked hesitantly, his voice weak.

"Mm, I saw this morning…" Kakashi replied honestly. "Why didn't you tell me, Naruto? What made you do this again?"

It pained Naruto to see Kakashi like he was now, hurt because of him.

"I… I don't know, Kakashi, that's just it… Yesterday when I was taking a shower I saw that razor and I just couldn't help it; there were so many things going on in my head at once that I just needed some sort of relief, and after the first time I started thinking about… about _Sasuke_, and then it just happened again…" Naruto bowed his head in shame, but felt the older male's hand lifting his chin so he could see his eyes.

"Naruto, I don't want you to do these things, and I'll take blame for this myself for leaving that razor out," Kakashi's voice was warm yet serious. "But you have to tell me the things on your mind in order for me to know what's going on inside your head and in order for me to help you get past this, koi. Please, just talk to me…" Naruto felt guilt flow through him seeing the older male in such a light, so sad and so… so desperate to get through to the blonde. He nodded and lay down, resting his head on Kakashi's lap.

"I will, 'Kashi, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just… I didn't want to disappoint you…" Kakashi ran his hand through Naruto's silken hair and let it rest on the boy's head.

"You won't disappoint me, Naru-chan, no matter what. I love you, remember that, and know I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Kakashi felt a warm feeling run through him as the blonde turned to his back and looked up at him, smiling one of those smiles only he was capable of.

"I love you too, koi." Naruto said, and he felt as though any bad feelings he'd had previously were just washed away, because looking up at his lover he knew he would be safe, he knew that he had a place to come home to and someone that loved him. He sat up and found his way to Kakashi's lap, though instead of a brief kiss like the older was expecting, their lips stayed connected, Naruto's tongue licking at the elder's lips.

Kakashi knew it probably wasn't smart, and he wasn't sure if he should play along with Naruto or stop him, but he couldn't help replying to the blondes actions as he parted his lips and joined the game, darting his tongue into the blonde's mouth, tasting everything that was the blonde. When he expected the kiss to end Naruto put his hands on the back of his head, not letting him pull back, and they only parted as they both needed air.

"N-Naruto?" Kakashi asked in surprise.

"I'm ready, Kakashi. Ready to put all that I have into this, 'cause when I'm with you I'm not afraid, I feel safer than I ever have, and I know that I'm yours and you're mine, and that that's all that matters.

**--**

**End ramble: So, what do you think of ze drama introduced?**


	19. Chapter 18

**Random Rambling: **Sorry this took me so long to get up, but life is just soooo busy right now... And up until christmas really, but i've been feeling creative lately, so if school doesn't keep me too busy i should get another chapter written in not too long =)  
The song The Rumour by You Me At Six you really should listen too, and other of their songs too, they're a great band!  
I hope you enjoy this chapter! Tell me what you think and what you want?

**Chapter 18**

**~xXx~**

I am that feeling, that you've done something wrong.  
I am that friend, who knew all along.  
We say we have our best friends yet we stab them in the back.  
We try to show some love and, it's a skill that we lack.

The Rumour by You Me At Six

**~xXx~**

"Good, Naruto!" Yamato shouted from the ground as the blonde flew against his opponent, Sai, then just as he let the others kick hit him square in the stomach he let them all know it was a kage bunshin and the real him attacked from behind, sending the other shinobi straight into a tree trunk. "I think you're ready for missions again," he continued as the boy landed softly on the ground and walked over to him.

"You serious?" The blonde was grinning from ear to ear and Sakura couldn't help but laugh happily.

"Yeah. I'll report it to Tsunade today if you want me to, or I could give you some more time – what do you want?" Yamato knew that in any ordinary case he should tell Tsunade that one of her shinobi who'd been on recovery leave and was ready again should be reported to her straight away, but Naruto's case was different.

"No no, please tell her I'm good to go, I miss getting out of Konoha from time to time…" Sakura looked at the blonde like he was insane; he actually wanted missions when he could have the time off?

"You'd rather go back to doing missions than being on leave? Are you serious, Naruto?" Sakura sounded shocked and there was some underlying hint of jealousy, probably at the fact that he had been off missions for so long, Naruto thought, and he almost wanted to laugh – had she had any clue three reason she wouldn't be so eager to envy him.

"Yes, I would…" Naruto said, being broken off by Sai.

"Is that so strange? He's a shinobi, he chose that himself, and what shinobi do is that they go on missions to protect their village and its interests – Naruto is probably the person in this village that wants to protect it most," Sai smiled at Naruto, "and so it's completely understandable that he wants to return to active duty." Sakura gawked at Sai; the last thing she was expecting was for him to step up like he had.

"I guess not," the pinkette replied silently, at lack of anything better to say.

"At any rate; training's over for today, go enjoy your weekend you two," Yamato was talking to Naruto and Sakura, "and you take care," he nodded towards Sai.

"Will do, it's not exactly a hard mission…" The raven gave an almost unnoticeable smile. For the mission all he had to do was take a scroll to wave country, not much compared to other missions he'd done.

"Have a good mission, Sai," Naruto said jokingly, "bye Sakura." After his goodbyes were said he walked over to Yamato and they stood still, chattering for a little while before they started making their way towards Kakashi and Naruto's apartment.

They walked slowly, it was nice weather and neither was in a hurry, and they both found the other good company, so it didn't matter if they used some time, just as they were nearing the apartment Naruto heard something that sounded remarkably like his name being shouted, turning around.

"Yo, Naruto!" When he turned Shikamaru was standing about 5 meters away, waving lazily at him. "Been a while." Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, it has…" the blonde smiled. "So, what'cha doing in this part of town, don't you live on the other side?" this time it was Shikamaru's time to nod.

"I do, but I was looking for you, actually. I was on my way to your apartment when I saw you. I could just as well say hi here, couldn't I? I figured it was better than stalking you to the apartment." Both the boys laughed, as did Yamato.

"Well," the oldest of the three said, breaking the laughter. "I think I'll leave you to yourself now, Naruto, the apartment's less than a hundred meters away, so you'll be fine, yes?" Naruto nodded and Yamato smiled, then waved at them both and used a teleporting jutsu to get himself home.

"Now then, what was it you were looking for me for?" Naruto looked at the brunette in front of him, smiling happily.

"Oh, yeah, that… Well, me and Neji are going out tonight, we were wondering if you wanted to come with? You know, for the sake of catching up and just hanging out…" _Plan set into action._

"Oh… Uhm… No that's not till tomorrow…" Naruto was thinking out loud, Shikamaru looking at him questioningly. "Yeah, sure, I can come; I got nothing planned for tonight… Where do I meet you guys though? And when?" Naruto wondered about the brunette's smirk-like expression, choosing to ignore it.

"At the Dead End, at 10-ish, if that works with you." Naruto nodded, he'd been to the place a few times before and liked it there – it was a quite large shinobi bar and the place most the shinobi he knew usually went on a Friday night if they were going out.

"Sure, works with me." Naruto smiled, it would be nice to get out for a bit, it'd been a while since last time. "I should get back to the apartment now… See you tonight, Shika." Naruto waved at the boy walking backwards in the direction he was originally headed.

"See you then," Shikamaru answered, waving back as Naruto turned and walked away.

_Part 1; check._ Shikamaru smiled, his smile at that moment would have sent shivers down most people's spines as they tried figuring out what he was thinking of, but luckily no one was looking at him. _Now all that's left to do is to wait for tonight and then make him spill…_

---

Kakashi sighed, took a sip of the glass of water he'd just filled up, and then sighed again. It had been a quite calm day, yet tiring none the less, emotionally more so than physically.

He picked up the glass and walked over to the couch, settling down in the most comfortable position he could find; stretched out on the three-seat couch with one arm hanging down on the floor, thinking. The day had been filled with nothingness, all he'd done was we a sub for a genin team (their sensei was on a mission he was specially requested for) and then when that was done he'd had a short training session with Raidou, then gone home.

What was making him tired, though, was the fact that even though Naruto had told him he was ready, though he'd said he wouldn't keep things from him, Kakashi couldn't help but worry. The boy had hurt himself just two days before saying so, making it all the harder to believe. He'd considered telling Tsunade; his orders were to tell her if the blonde did anything such as what he'd done, but he decided against it for reasons he preferred to keep to himself, one of them that he was afraid Naruto then wouldn't be with him, however selfish that sounded. That and Naruto's upcoming birthday. Kakashi knew the boy had never had any special relationship to birthdays, and with the October festival and the commotions around the Kyuubi there would be and such it would be hard, but he wanted to give the boy a memorable celebration of his eighteenth.

Suddenly he heard a clicking noise and saw the door-handle being pushed down, looking at his clock to find that it was 4pm, it was bound to be Naruto.

"Hey, 'Kashi," the boy said as he entered the room, smiling, then he walked over to the male on the couch and placed a soft kiss on his exposed lips.

"Hey, you…" Kakashi sat up to make room for Naruto, who dropped into the couch and snuggled close to him. "How was your day, kit?" Naruto pouted playfully and pretended to claw at Kakashi's arm at the nickname, though truth be told he didn't mind it.

"It was good… Yamato said I'm ready for active duty again!" The boy grinned. "And then Shikamaru asked me if I wanted to join me and him to the Dead End tonight, so I said yes. That okay?" The blonde looked at his lover with blue eyes.

"Yeah, you need to have some fun," Kakashi said, putting his arms around the blonde and holding him close, "you deserve it." Naruto leant against the older man's chest and closed his eyes, it felt so right.

---

Tsunade gasped as her eyes moved over the messy handwriting on the torn piece of paper she was holding; she couldn't believe what she'd just read. Orochimaru was dead, so was Kabuto – and they'd been killed by none other than Sasuke. That boy was now more dangerous than ever.

The blonde wasn't sure what to do, but however little she wanted to deal with those people she knew that in cases like this she had to call the council and discuss Konoha's plan of action. She sent one of her summons to gather the elders, waiting for them to arrive.

With the minutes she had for waiting she imagined the many different scenarios that the situation could result in, most of them were not wanted. As she was sitting there in thought she heard a knock on her door and looked up, muttering a 'come in' before the door was opened.

"Tsunade, you sent a summon for us, we assume it's urgent?" The female of the two elders, Koharu, asked in a displeased tone. Homura, the other of the two elders, looked just as unhappy as she sounded.

"Yes, Koharu, it is." Tsunade said. "I received this letter that Jiraiya sent just today. Read it, you'll understand why I called you here." The woman took the piece of paper, looking questioningly at it.

"I cannot decrypt this as I read, would you please?" Tsunade nodded, then took back the piece of paper that had been so easy for her to decrypt, Jiraiya had done a good job when he wrote it.

"Of course." She made sure she was sitting comfortably, then read the letter out loud, skipping the first paragraph that had been directed at her. "As I am on this mission I have recently learned that Sasuke has Killed Orochimaru and Kabuto, he has created a new four man shinobi team, each of them have their own special powers, their names are Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu, I've listed the specifics further down. Sasuke has set out to kill Itachi, by the time you get this I'm not sure how far he will have gotten. Furthermore, the Akatsuki are hunting down the Jinchuuriki and their Bijou, and they've already gotten, as you know, the one tailed beast, but now also the two tails. They're moving quickly…" She read on, telling them the specifics Jiraiya had written down to help them and such, and saw their faces pale.

"That…" Homura said darkly, "has to be dealt with – but what do we _take care of_ first?" Both Tsunade and Koharu nodded as he first spoke, then – as Tsunade was about to speak, knowing very well what _problem _she wanted to take care of first – Koharu's voice sounded.

"As much as the traitor Uchiha needs to be dealt with I think we all know that the Akatsuki and their… suspicious hunting down of the Jinchuuriki and their Bijou are a more pressing matter, we need to deal with that first…" Homura agreed and Tsunade nodded silently, knowing what the woman said was right.

"Yes. We'll have to make a plan of action then, and inform those that it concerns once we've thought it through, those are the first steps to be made." Tsunade was serious, and however much she personally wanted to do things in a different order she knew she couldn't-

The three sat down around Tsunades desk, debating what to do, how to do it, who to do it and all other things they needed to plan to be able to do anything at all. They talked for long, and when the two elders and Tsunade finally came to an agreement on things it was already dark out.

"What now? Do we summon him or wait until the morning?" Tsunade asked quietly.

"I think that we should summon him now and brief him on the situation and our plan, It will give his mind more time to prepare for what he will have to do." Homura said, Koharu and Tsunade both seeing his point and agreeing.

"Now, then?" another question from Tsunade.

"Yes, please." the old man said.

---

It was already out when Naruto looked at the large watch on the wall and suddenly scrambled out of the sofa and to his feet.  
"Damn! I'm supposed to meet them in half an hour…" the blonde practically ran out of the living room and to the bathroom, providing a very comical sight for Kakashi.

As Naruto was in the bathroom, Kakashi sat in the living room by himself thinking about the night. At first he'd been a bit worried to let the blonde go by himself, but then they'd agreed that Kakashi could come to the bar later, since Anko and some others had already invited him. The though calmed Kakashi somewhat and he picked up the blue book lying next to him on the couch and started reading. Oh yes, the orange books had actually come to an end, so he'd taken up reading horror. This world had, he'd come to find out, quite many twisted individuals capable of writing very disturbing, macabre and bloody things, and a great deal of those authors were in fact really good.

When Naruto reappeared in the living room, Kakashi couldn't help stare; the boy looked Drop Dead Gorgeous with all capital letters. Hot. Amazing. There wasn't much special about his clothing, but yet he looked wonderful in it. He was wearing a pair of ripped jeans that fit in just the right places, and a loosely fitted black t-shirt with some cerulean and teal details that accentuated his eyes perfectly.

"Wow, you look great…" Kakashi couldn't take his eyes of the boy.

"Don't I always?" Naruto said playfully. "Thanks, hun," he added quietly, smiling.

"Have fun tonight, okay." Kakashi said, "And take care."

"I will, I will" the blonde smiled kindly. "Relax, 'Kashi, believe it or not I think I'm able to take care of myself for one night…" the older man leaned forwards and reached for the blondes hand, the teen stepping closer so it was easier for his boyfriend to reach it.

"I know, koi, I just… Uhm… Guess I'm just not used to worrying about someone, eh?" He played lightly with the blonde's fingers, all the while stroking his thumb against the back of his hand.

"Do you how any idea how sweet you really are?" Naruto asked, receiving a happy smile from Kakashi. "Any idea how much I love you…" The blonde bent down till he was at eye level with Kakashi, then kissed him. He parted his own lips as he could feel the older man's tongue asking for entrance, letting him in. The kiss went on for quite a while, and when it ended Naruto stood back up, looking lovingly at the silver haired male in front of him.

"See you soon then, yes?" The blonde stated more than asked.

"Mhm, now go – enjoy yourself." The blonde, who was already at the door, smiled back and waved then walked out and closed the door behind him.

As Kakashi sat silently staring into thin air he felt a familiar feeling – his ANBU summon tattoo was activated. He got to his feet, wondering what could be the reason he was summoned, and hurried towards the hokage tower.

---

When he arrived at the Dead End, Naruto found Shikamaru and Neji sitting at a corner table as far back in the locals of the bar. Making his way through the different groups of people, he joined them at the table.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully as he slung himself down on a chair.

"Hey, you made it," Shikamaru said, "What do you want?" Naruto took a brief look at the menu.

"Uhm…" The blonde had never been much of a drinker, thus he was unsure of what he might like out of all the things listed on the menu. His knowledge of alcohol so far was that beer was not good, and sake was strong. "Any recommendations?" he asked the two other boys.

"Wanna start out with something light?" Neji asked. "I think you'll like red bull-vodka…" Naruto nodded.

"Okay… I'll go order one, I'll be back in a tick," Naruto said, Shikamaru stopping him as he was about to get out of his seat by taking a light hold of his wrist.

"I'll go, I'm getting another beer anyways… Neji, you want anything?" the brunette had let go of Naruto by now, the blonde sitting down as Neji appeared to be thinking.

"Surprise me?" the umber haired boy said, then turned to Naruto making light conversation as Shikamaru walked over to the bar, trying to gain the attention of the bartender.

One and a half hour and several drinks later Naruto was quickly nearing what Shikamaru and Neji considered to be appropriately drunk for what they had planned. The blonde had just gotten his new drink and held it in his hand when he caught eye of something that made him stop everything and stare at two figures sitting on a table on the other side of the locals.

---

"Here's your drink, Dolphin," Genma said, smiling at the brunette as he sat down next to him on the couch – 'accidentally' touching the younger man's thigh as he did so, the brunette giggling.

"Thanks, Gen…" He looked at the older man, suddenly incapable of taking his eyes off him.

"Iruka?" Genma said hesitantly, the young man seemed far off in his own world, staring at him. _If you keep staring at me like that, your lips barely parting, making you look so seductive… I won't be able to hold off much longer, Dolphin… _

"Hmm…?" The brunette snapped back to attention, blinking once as if to clear his thoughts, still looking into Genma's eyes.

"You zoned out." Genma stated. As Iruka lay his hand on the couch between them, they were now sitting facing each other, Genma couldn't help himself, laying his on top of it.

"Oh." Iruka was strangely quiet. He used to talk quite a lot when they were out, but today he hadn't said much at all the whole half-hour they'd been out – Kotetsu, Izumo and Raidou were to meet them soon.

"What's wrong, Iruka? You don't seem yourself." Genma was worried about his friend at the same time as it was getting harder and harder for him to control his cravings for the tan male.

"It's nothing… _I just can't shake off this feeling of wanting to kiss you…" _Noticing Genma's surprised look and the way he tensed up Iruka put a hand to his mouth, his face flushing red. "Did I just say that out loud?" he asked, almost a whisper.

"Yeah…" Genma was going through inner conflict, torn between letting the chuunin in front of him choose what happened next of just simply kissing him like he'd wanted for so long, like his instincts screamed for him to do. His instincts won.

Iruka didn't move as Genma leaned forwards even though he knew what was coming, when Genma's lips met his he kissed back, when the older man's tongue tried to push them open he complied, parting his lips just enough for Genma's tongue to enter his mouth. Genma deepened the kiss and put one hand on Iruka's back, pulling the younger male closer to him, the smaller leaning against him. It took minutes before they parted, and when they did they sat in silence, staring into each other's eyes. Iruka was first to speak.

"What did I just do?" Guilt came rushing through him. "What about Shizune?"

"I…" Genma's heart sank, it felt so right, could it possibly have been wrong?

"Oh, no, no…" Iruka said when he saw the hurt look in Genma's eyes. "I didn't mean it like that…" It wasn't hard to tell the older had no clue what was going on now. "It's not something I regret, it was wonderful, I just…"

"It's not?" Genma asked hesitantly. _Thank god._

"Since you came and talked to me that day in the academy I haven't been able to get you out of my mind, you know… I was quite sure – no, that's a lie – I was sure something would happen if I came out tonight, and still I did, I want this… I just don't want to hurt _her_," they both knew he was referring to Shizune. "She's a wonderful girl…"

Genma was speechless, what happened had been completely unexpected from his side, and his mind had blanked out completely. Iruka leaned against his shoulder, and they sat in silence until the rest of the party came to join them, both knowing they'd talk it over later.

---

Yet another hour later Naruto, Shikamaru and Neji were still sitting around their corner-table, Naruto chattering away like crazy, though so far neither of his companions for the night had asked him anything of interest. Almost all the first half of the hour he'd spent talking about Iruka and Genma and what he thought about the whole deal, which was that they'd make a great couple, and then he'd talked about several other things, Kakashi included. Shikamaru and Neji glanced at each other, and Neji nodded, this was their way of agreeing that Naruto had definitely had enough for them to be able to get something out of him.

"Now that you're talking about Kakashi and all that – how come you started living with him?" Shikamaru asked, the blonde looking at him, his eyes showing that he was wondering how to answer the question.

"Well, after the whole Ita…" he hesitated, both the other boys noticed, but it wasn't so strange, after all the boy he was talking of had usedsharingan on him, and not any technique either. "Itachi thing I couldn't be by myself, so Tsunade assigned 'Kashi to take care of me. I still have to live there 'cause she's scared I'll hurt myself or something though…" Naruto's eyes tried to focus on Shikamaru's but they wouldn't do what he wanted them too.

"Oh?" Shikamaru continued, Neji still saying nothing.

"Yeah," Naruto said. "See, I kinda did something stupid before that whole _incident… _well, no matter what it was, she's scared it'll happen again and so I had to stay with Kakashi, but I don't mind, he's my boyfriend after all…" The blonde smiled.

"Naruto," Neji was the one to speak this time, and he had his own way of trying to get the boy to speak. "I know Sasuke left and became a traitor, but I was wondering, since you were so close friends, if you might have heard from him… Maybe that, or since you were out of the village for so long if you might have seen him." That way was by playing dumb, and he was sure he'd get some sort of response. And so he did.

"I don't know anything about him, but for my part… I hope that _Uchiha_ is dead." There was something so very cold in Naruto's voice, both other boys noticed as he spoke, and the way he spit out the Uchiha name sent shivers down Shikamaru's spine, and they both knew they were getting somewhere.

"What did he do to earn your hate like this, Naruto?" Neji ventured on.

"What did he do? What he did!?" Naruto clenched his right hand into a fist so tight his nails dug into his skin. Something stirred within his mind.

"Kit." He heard a voice say, of course knowing it was Kyuubi. "Kit, calm down." The voice was calm and kind, and there was some other emotion in it that he couldn't quite place. To the others it appeared Naruto had stopped speaking, but in reality the boy was speaking to his demon.

"What is it?" He said angrily, the alcohol made his emotions stronger, and at the moment he was in the mood to kill someone, which was reasoned thinking of Sasuke.

"Kit, are you sure you want them to know?" He looked confused, and still angry.

"I'm going now, I have company." His voice was hostile as he turned his back on the giant fox, quickly walking away from the cage.

"Do you really want them all to know, Naruto?" Kyuubi shouted after him, the boy stopped in his tracks but didn't turn.

"Who cares?" he said, and now the fox knew that the alcohol had affected him too much. _I have to work fast. _

Naruto was back, and looked up at Shikamaru and Neji, who both looked slightly worried about him. Suddenly he felt slightly nauseous, but he decided to ignore that, downing what was left in his glass and taking a deep breath before he started speaking without knowing that the Kyuubi was working it's hardest to cleanse his blood of the alcohol like it would any other poison before he said things he would regret.

"You want to know why I hate him, yes?" He asked, the two boys sitting opposed him nodded. "Well, here's the story; you see…" He put his hands to his head as he became dizzy, highly annoyed with feeling this sick, but choosing to ignore this too. "You see… Well, that goes back to the day he ran away…" The fox was desperate to stop him now, trying it's hardest to make him black out or anything that would stop him, but the boy refused, going on. _How much alcohol did they get him to drink?_

"Are you ok, Naruto?" Neji asked, both he and Shikamaru looked worriedly at the blonde.

"Yeah, yeah, I am…" Naruto said, a hint of anger that was meant to be directed at the Kyuubi present in his voice. "Now here's why I hate _him_, that's what you wanted to hear." His voice as he mentioned the boy they'd asked about was so cold, so hateful that it was frightening to hear it from the normally happy, affectionate blonde. "He... He did things to me that night… As did other, but that I could have lived with, but he did fucking things to me that I will never forget – He fucking ra…" Suddenly Naruto fell over, his eyes closed, hitting his head against the table before he fell to the ground.

Neji and Shikamaru both got out of their seats, hurrying to his sides to check on him, calming as his pulse and breathing were still normal, but deciding to take him to the Hospital at any rate. Taking one of his arms over each their shoulder and walking away with him, luckily getting passed Iruka without the male noticing – he was too busy flirting madly with Genma.

"Kit," Naruto heard in his mind again. "I'm sorry, but this was for your own good." The fox encircled the angry teen with one of its tails, pulling him closer to the cage. Naruto remained silent, not speaking. _You'll thank me for it once you're sobered up, I just hope it wasn't too late…_

---

_We're closing in on__ Konoha now, it's not far now. _That thought had been going through Sasuke's mind since they started travelling towards his childhood home, slowly driving him mad. Suddenly, as they were in a small clearing, he halted.

"We'll stay here for the night," He said, the three others looking confusedly at each other, it wasn't even late, but they were stopping already. Not that any of them minded, Sasuke kept and insane pace all day.

"Ok," Suigetsu said. "When're we leaving tomorrow?" It'd been long since he'd had a decent night's sleep, so he figured if he had the chance he'd take it now.

"Early, before the sun comes up." was all Sasuke said. Suigetsu nodded, the sun hadn't yet gone down, so that would give him some time. Maybe these mood swings he'd had lately would give him a rest if he slept – or maybe that had just always been how he was…

"Juugo, you'll take second watch tonight," Sasuke said. "Karin – you'll take second, I'll take third, and Suigetsu – you'll take morning watch." All three nodded, and Suigetsu let on a smile, at least he wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night.

All four set up for the night slightly spread out on the small clearing, and as time passed the three males all went to sleep, Karin keeping watch.

---

It was already dark, but Shizune wanted to get home as fast as she possibly could, hurrying through the forest separating her from her beloved Konoha. Suddenly she stopped, sensing a presence, and true to her curious self she had to see what it was. She slowed do­­wn, carefully approaching where she felt it, stopping as she came to the edge of a clearing, ­making herself as unnoticeable as she could. She looked through the branches separating her and the camp that was there, her eyes widening as she caught sight of a familiar figure sitting outside his tent, it was Sasu…

"Why hello, Shizune. That is your name, right?" She cursed herself for not having understood it was a clone earlier, turning towards where the voice had come from only to find Sasuke standing one meter away from her.

"Yes, it is. And you're Uchiha Sasuke, a traitor to Konoha. What are you doing here?" She knew there was no point in trying to run, the rumors she'd heard of this kid were that he was stronger than most, and knowing him from earlier she believed them.

"Indeed, that is me, and I'm coming home, I'm thinking you wouldn't mind joining me, now would you?" She didn't have time to speak before she felt a sharp pain to the back of her neck, then everything went black.

Sasuke smirked, he even had a valuable hostage now – and he couldn't believe how easily she'd been tricked by the clones twice, but it didn't matter. He held her up in his arms and carried her back into camp, tying her up hard and forming a seal so she couldn't get away. Not that she could anyways, for someone like her it should take approximately 12 hours to wake up from the comatose state she was now in – and if she became troublesome then it was just a matter of pressing the right nerves with the right amount of strength.

---

There was a knock at Tsunades door as she and Kakashi sat deep in discussion, but being the hokage she couldn't overlook it unless what she was doing was crucial, and so called out for whoever it was to enter. Shikamaru walked through the door, his head bowed, and Kakashi's eyes widened – Naruto was supposed to be with him. Why was he here, and why was he looking worried?

"Godaime, Tsunade, I thought I should tell you that Naruto is in the hospital." Her eyes too shot open now, and she glared at the teen, Kakashi had already told her that Naruto was meant to be out with him and some others when he was meeting with her, but she hadn't truly worried till now.

"What happened?" she asked, worry in her voice.

"We were out drinking, he wasn't that far gone, but suddenly he just fainted – that was an hour ago and he still hasn't woken up…" Shikamaru wanted to die. Feeling both Kakashi's and Tsunade's eyes on him, knowing his own fault in the matter, he wanted to sink through the floor beneath him and down into the ground somewhere far underneath it and have someone shovel extra dirt on top of where he disappeared.

"Take me to him now." Tsunade said, motioning for Kakashi to join as they followed the Nara teen to the hospital, through many of the sterile, white halls and to a small room where Naruto was lying quietly on a bed.

Kakashi was about to walk over to the bed, but Tsunade beat him to it, telling him to sit down in the chair on the other side of the bed, and dismissing Shikamaru.

"Naruto," she said calmly. "Naruto, can you hear me?" The blonde stirred in his sleep. "Naruto, wake up." She commanded, but nothing happened. She put her hand on Naruto's sending a jolt of chakra into him.

"Ngh…" Naruto sighed, his blue eyes blinking open. Tsunade sighed, Kakashi smiled in relief.

"Naruto, what's going on?" she asked, and Kakashi was lost.

"Ow…" Naruto said, touching his hand to his head as he sat up; he didn't have a hangover thanks to the Kyuubi, but the fox hadn't healed the bump in his head, figuring he deserved some reminder for being so stupid. "Tsunade? What… Where am I?" he asked groggily.

"You're in the hospital, you baka, you fainted when you were out drinking with your friends." She was glad the kid was awake, yet mad at him for not thinking before he did things.

"Oh…" He was about to say something more, but was cut off.

"Now are you going to tell me what happened, cause I'm thinking you didn't faint from drinking too much?" he didn't care to ask how she knew, he was already aware she knew more than most, and nodded.

"I was… getting slightly drunk, and Kyuubi stopped me from doing something stupid, that's all…" Kakashi lifted his head to look at the boy, worry so clear in his eyes. Naruto looked at him now instead of Tsunade. "Relax, 'Kashi, please, nothing happened." The words didn't help Kakashi, a million thoughts about what it could have been running through his head, none of them good.

"Thank god for the fox, then. Are you going to tell me what was about to happen or will I have to force you?" she said calmly.

"I can't remember…" It was true, and curtsey of the Kyuubi, that too. "Honest." Tsunade shook her head in discontent, figuring she'd have a chat with Shikamaru and whoever else had been there once she had the chance.

"Take him home." She turned to Kakashi as she spoke. "There's no reason why he needs to be here… We'll talk later." He nodded, then got to his feet, picking Naruto up into his arms as the blonde attempted to get out of bed. Naruto blushed, but said nothing, leaning into Kakashi and closing his eyes, he was tired.

"Good night," Tsunade said as she left the room, "take care, the both of you." Kakashi nodded and mumbled a good night back; Naruto had already fallen asleep in his arms and said nothing.

As they were back in the apartment Kakashi kicked off his shoes and carried Naruto into the bedroom, proceeding to undress him carefully. As he pulled of the blondes' shirt he couldn't help his eyes lingering on the toned, marked abdomen, his fingers moving lightly over the skin before he also took of his jeans, leaving him in only his underwear. When he was done he pulled the covers over the boy and got ready for bed himself, lying down next to his little blonde, smiling as he went to sleep, yes there was still worry on his mind on the matter of what it was that Naruto had been about to do.


	20. Chapter 19

**Random Rambling: Here's the new chapter, sorry it took me so very long! In the middle of mock-exams and everything is busy now before x-mas, but I try my best =)  
Now, I really want to know your thoughts on the story and how it's progressing, reviews are always very welcome! **

**Last chapter: Naruto got drunk and told Shikamaru and Neji about the things that happened in the past. Iruka kissed Genma. Tsunade told Koharu and Homura about the letter from Jiraiya. Kakashi got called in to a meeting with the Hokage. Sasuke came very, very near Konoha and he also has Shizune as a hostage. **

**Chapter 19**

~  
Make room for the prey  
cause I'm coming in  
With what I wanna say but  
It's gonna hurt  
And I love the pain  
A breeding ground for hate but...

Miss You Love - Silverchair  
~

_Finally_. _Finally I'm back._  
A devious smile that would send a shiver down anyone's back crossed Sasuke's face as he stopped his team about one kilometer away from Konoha in a small clearing. He was _home_, and he was finally going to claim what he had been yearning for so long.

"You," he said referring to his three 'companions', "wait here for me after I leave, I will be back tomorrow – for today I have something… _personal_ to take care of." Suigetsu nodded, the two others remaining silent. "I will be leaving in an hour, but you can feel free to do what you want from now until when I get back, as long as you watch_ her_ – I don't want her getting loose." He was speaking of Shizune, who was still in a deep sleep. With that he turned his back to the rest, ignoring Karin's usual nagging and found a seat beneath a tall tree; he had to plan how he would get to _his_ Naruto.

**~X~**

"Hell…" Shikamaru said as he walked yet another round on the small circular carpet on Neji's floor, the Hyuuga himself sitting in silence on his bed like he had for most the night – they'd both been up, but neither had seemed able to find any words to say at their discovery.

"Shikamaru…" Neji said, he knew they'd had to talk it over, and now was the time. "Shika!" The brunette snapped out of his trance and looked at the other boy, understanding what he meant. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to him, sighing heavily.

"So…" the genius said, all out of words.

"So…" came the reply.

"He was… I wonder… Forget it…" Shikamaru had been about to wonder out loud about when it had happened, but realized they already knew that, and it was horrifying even to think of.

"Yeah." Neji changed his position slightly, sitting a little more upright, and looked at Shikamaru. "Damn, if I ever see Sasuke's face again I'll be sick… either that or kill him first, then be sick that he had the nerve to come close to anything or anyone even related to Konoha."

"I know." The brunette said in honesty. "I know… Naruto was raped."

"Yes," The older of the two's voice seemed to make it real and both of them felt deep down inside that they'd never even tried to find out what was wrong – that they'd be better off without knowing. "But he also said there were others – who were they, do you think?" There was something in Neji's voice telling Shikamaru that they boy already had an idea and just wanted to see what he was thinking.

"Seeing as it was the night Sasuke betrayed the village…" Shikamaru didn't want to say it, but he knew he had to, taking a deep breath. "I can't help this feeling that Orochimaru was involved, though what other person… people… might have been involved, I don't know…" Neji nodded in reply, thinking through what horrifying news they'd found.

"Naruto; bright, happy, Naruto was… and by fucking Sasuke…" _That fucking creep is dead if I ever see him again… _"And… No wonder he changed…" The news was finally sinking in, and more than a million thoughts were running through the Hyuuga's mind at the same time it seemed so empty it would implode. "What're we gonna do?"

"Do we tell someone?" the thought just popped into the brunettes head, and as much of a genius he was, this time he had no idea what to do. "Do you think anyone knows?"

"Well… I'm not really sure," Neji started. "I think someone has to know, probably… I mean, Kakashi should know, and Tsunade might, seeing she treated him after that whole Itachi deal… And I don't know, Jiraiya might? I mean, they were gone for so long, and right after that incident too…" He paused, trying to formulate a sentence. "We should probably talk to Kakashi about it first, I'd say, considering everything." Shikamaru nodded.

"When?" He didn't really want to at any point of time, but they'd have to.

"Today?"

**~X~**

A loud yawn escaped Naruto's pink lips as he woke up to find himself in the arms of his lover, and he smiled.  
"Morning, 'Kashi," he said, expecting the older man to already be awake like normal.

"Good morning, Kitsune;" Kakashi said, letting out a groan because his hand that was underneath Naruto's body had fallen asleep, a very uncomfortable sensation.

"_I love you."_ The words were whispered, and the blonde only slowly turned to face his lover. He wasn't really sure why, but he'd had a strong urge to tell the other man, something deep inside him needing to utter the three little words. Kakashi was surprised to hear them so… Unexpectedly, but he smiled, a different smile than usual, one of those rare, lovely smiles that only Naruto could get out of him, and ran his fully functioning hand through the boy's hair.

"I love you too," he replied. "We have to talk about yesterday." He didn't particularly feel like bringing it up, but they really did have to clear up what had happened. Naruto's mood seemed to sink a little, but he nodded, understanding.

After they'd both gotten dressed and a light breakfast was on the table Kakashi sighed, then spoke. "So, want to tell me what really happened yesterday"

"Well…" Naruto started, swallowing the piece of bread in his mouth. "I kinda… Don't remember much, but Kyuubi told me most of it." He paused, taking a sip of orange juice, and was about to continue just as Kakashi spoke.

"What'd you tell them, Naruto?" the silver-haired male asked, trying to find out what damage there was to be repaired.

"I told them that…" The blonde stilled, biting his lower lip. "Well, I didn't directly say that I'd been hurting myself, but I think Shika might have figured that out, but… I told them what… Sa… What _he _did." A tear slid down Naruto's check and he clenched his hands. Still, after all this time, even just the other boy's name had this strong an effect on him, what he'd done went even deeper than just tears. _I hate that I'm this weak._

"Ok." Kakashi nodded, remaining calm. "Well, I guess things have to be clarified with them then." He paused to let Naruto react and speak if he wanted.

"Mh… I just, I…" Naruto relaxed as he felt his lover's hand stroking his back gently.

"You don't want to have to speak about it?" The silverette asked, the boy nodded. "You can ask Tsunade to speak with them for you; she'll do it. Me too for that matter."

"I think I'll ask baa-chan," Naruto said after a while. "I'll go see her soon… I just wanna think through what I'll say first, seeing she's probably not happy with me, and that I don't really want her killing Shika and Neji either…" Naruto pouted at Kakashi, who chuckled, which was something he very rarely did, and smiled.

**~X~**

It was mid-afternoon and Naruto was on his way to speak with Tsunade when he felt a strong, familiar chakra signature close in on him. He turned to look behind him, and suddenly heard a familiar voice, but he couldn't locate the source of it. _Who is it?_

It felt almost as if his mind simply wouldn't let him recognize the voice that kept calling his name, but the gentle chanting worked like a spell on him, and now that the voice also seemed to have a source he followed it, curious to know what was going on, assuming it was only a trick by some villagers, or possibly Konohamaru. Suddenly a tap on his right shoulder woke him out of his trance-like state, and he swirled around to catch a glimpse of black hair, pale skin and blood-red and black eyes that sent shivers through his whole body. He gasped, not believing his own eyes, and was about to scream, but not a sound would pass his lips.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," The boy in front of him said, "but I've had to put a jutsu on you so that you won't cause too much commotion for me. Now come." The blonde felt himself collapse as the raven, who was suddenly behind him, delivered a sharp blow to the base of his spine, and then felt himself lifted into the ravens arms before all went black

**~X~**

"Kakashi," Tsunade said in a serious tone, looking the man up and down. He nodded, remaining silent. "We have two matter to discuss, the first being Naruto, and the second your mission."

"I know, hokage," He replied.

"Please, we're on first-name basis, call me Tsunade." A nod was the answer. "First, Naruto. What are we going to do about the… unfavorable situation?" the blonde asked, Kakashi looking questioningly at her.

"Hasn't Naruto been to see you about that, Tsunade? He went out about an hour ago to speak with you." The jounin's body language tensed somewhat, his thoughts quickly taken over by those that something might have happened to Naruto.

"No, he hasn't…" She said, it was obvious she was worrying too. "Do you think he might have gone somewhere else first?" _Please say he has. _

"He said he would go straight here, and I know he wished to see you quickly." _If anything's happened to him again…_ A dark downward spiral was starting to form in Kakashi's mind.

"I will send out a team of ANBU to find him, relax Kakashi – Within Konoha, what can possibly have happened that he's not strong enough to handle?" She was such a good liar that she almost believed her own message that the boy was definitely safe, knowing too well that there had to be _something_ wrong. Kakashi almost believed her too, because of the wish in his mind for the boy to be safe and sound somewhere.

"Thank you, Tsunade." His voice was a little more distant than normally, his eyes a little further off to the horizon as he spoke.

"Can you still tell me what he was going to, I'm supposing you know?" The hokage asked, catching the males gaze with her striking eyes.

"He wished for you to explain the situation to Neji and Shikamaru and make sure they do not tell it to anyone further, I have no objections."

"Even if you had objections, Kakashi" Tsunade said in a voice suggesting that was an unnecessary thing to say, "it would not matter, because it's Naruto's decision." She looked at Kakashi, and he merely nodded. "Now that's settled; I'll call them in as soon as I am done with you, it needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible so none of it spreads to others – gossip spreads like wildfire in a forest gone months without rain in this village." The busty woman paused for a few seconds, taking a glance out her window.

"What was it about the mission, Tsunade?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly, that matter didn't really bother him much, and especially not now that he had other things to worry about.

"Homura and Koharu have requested I give you an Ultimatum, one which I wish I didn't have to, but they have good means for making me do this. I'm sorry Kakashi, but I have to ask you to choose between two extremes; either you accept this mission, or you will be exiled from this village." She could see the man's heart fall, and it seemed as if his very soul was torn – which knowing him it was probably about to be. "I truly am sorry, Kakashi – It's a horrible choice to have to make."

"How long do I have?" He said, the fact that his voice was completely at lack of any emotion scaring Tsunade more than any fit he might have had possibly could.

"One week exactly, the mission will start October 20th if you choose to accept it." She observed him carefully, yet there was still no emotion in the man's eyes – nothing but perhaps the slightest sign of hopelessness and despair.

"I will have the answer ready in seven days then," he said. "May I take my leave?"

"Yes, you may." She silenced, watching the man as he walked towards the doors of her office. "Kakashi…" She said, almost a whisper, but he heard it. "I'm truly sorry, take care." She could tell that he nodded even though he didn't turn around. "I will call for you once we find Naruto, it shouldn't be long." She watched as he left without a word.

_We have a big, big mess on our hands, and no matter what happens next it's headed for disaster, though when they realize it's probably too late…_

**~X~**

"One look sends it coursing through the veins, oh how the feeling races, back up to their brains to form expressions on their _stupid faces_…" Sasuke's voice was the first thing Naruto could hear as he woke, fear running down his spine and an expressions of utter horror on his face.

_Go away, go away, go away – This is just another nightmare! _When he opened his eyes, which were now accustomed to the very dim light of the room he was in, he could see the other boy's familiar frame. His white skin was shining in the muted light; his black hair looked just the same as always, except that it was possibly a bit longer. _It's not a dream this time…_

"So you decided to wake up, my _darling_ demon." The words sounded so harsh from the raven's lips, and Naruto cringed as the boy called him a demon. His voice had changed – it was so cold. Not that it hadn't been before, but now it was so in another, terrifying kind of way.

"S-Sasuke?" _I can't believe it. I won't. It can't be true. _

"Oh yes, Na-ru-to." The Uchiha said in the exact same way that Itachi had let the name pass his lips; syllable by syllable. "I came to get what was mine, namely you." He ran a pale finger over Naruto's tan cheeks, tracing one of his whisker-scars. "_Haven't you missed me_?"

"Why?" A tear rolled down the blonde's check, his voice threatening to fail him when he spoke, the word barely a whisper.

"I already told you, Naruto; to get what is mine. To get you. I want you, and I take what I want. I missed you – no, wrong wording, forgive me; I missed your body, and now I have it all to myself." Naruto tried to scream, but again his voice was a whisper. "Scream all you wish, Uzumaki, it won't help you now. There's an illusion surrounding us, and nobody will hear your screams – nobody will find us until I let them."

Naruto shuddered as a cold hand moved up his back under his shirt, pushing the thin fabric up. He tried to push the Uchiha, who was suddenly straddling him, off him, only to find that his hands were cuffed to the bedposts. Panic spread through his body, and wanted to do something, anything, to get out of the situation he was in, but his mind went blank and left him with nothing to do. A ripping sound was quickly followed by the blonde's shirt falling of his body, thin fingers sliding over his tan chest, stopping to play with his (against his will) hard nipples.

"Please…" The blonde plead against Sasukes hair, the raven was now busy sucking and kissing his neck, leaving his marks on the tan skin. "_Please don't_..." The raven kept moving further down the body that was writhing and struggling beneath him, his only reply was looking up into the cerulean eyes of his victim without mercy. For a moment the Uchiha's ministrations stopped, he'd heard something close to them, but he chose to trust the genjutsu protecting them from the outside world, pulling down the blonde's pants and briefs at a painfully slow pace.

**~X~**

"Wait," Cat said, the three other ANBU that were with him coming to a halt. "There's something here, a strong genjutsu is affecting this whole area."

"What do we do to dispel it, since I'm assuming simply 'dispel' won't work?" Snake asked, both he, Bear and Lynx walking closer to Cat, who was a genjutsu specialist.

"We could probably dispel it, but it'll likely be faster if you can get Tsunade, she and I together could do it faster and simpler." Cat looked at his comrades, awaiting a reply.

"I will get her now, back soon," Lynx said, making a simple hand-seal and disappearing in smoke.

**~X~**

"Hey, Suigetsu…" Karin said, she was sitting on a small rock poking their still sleeping captive with a thin stick. "I think girlie here's waking up." She dropped the stick and knelt next to Shizune, waiting to see what would happen.

"Make sure she doesn't cause a ruckus when she remembers, we don't want to attract any attention," the sharp toothed male said, not moving from his place in a tree not far from Karin and Shizune. Juugo had gone for a walk minutes before, he'd likely be back in less than half an hour.

"Yeah, yeah, I know already… Here she comes!"

Shizune yawned, then started to slowly open her eyes. As she came to she obviously didn't remember a thing from the night before, trying to recall what had happened or who the woman kneeling besides her was, but nothing came to mind in the first few minutes before all of a sudden she let out a loud scream cut off by Karin's hand over her mouth.

"I told you to keep her quiet, Karin," Suigetsu said in an annoyed tone, rolling his eyes.

"I am, I am… Hey, what do you think Sasuke is going to do with our little hostage here?" Karin laughed as Shizune tried to twist out of her hold to scream, and all of a sudden Suigetsu was by her side with a handy roll of duct tape or something like it taken from a scroll, placing it over the captive's mouth.

"Oh, relax, nothings gonna happen to you _yet…_" The male grinned, hoping that he'd get to have some fun later.

Inside of Shizune's head, thought were racing, her mind working it's hardest at trying to come up with a way to get out of her unfavorable situation, but she had no idea what she could possibly do. _Why's he back? What's he going to do here?_

**~X~**

Naruto was beyond screaming, beyond pleading, beyond silent tears as the raven that once was his teammate and friend now pounded harshly into him, lying completely still as if he were dead. His wrist were hurting from the cuffs holding them in place and he had long since given up kicking, all he could do was try to push what was happening to him _again_ to the farthest corner of his mind, hoping it would stay there.

"Ah, Naruto, you're so tight," Sasuke said as yet again their bodies slammed together. "You haven't done this in a while, have you?" The blonde didn't respond, his look just as distant as before, just as desperate behind all the nothingness it showed. "Fuck, I'm cumming," Sasuke said just as his seed spilled within the blonde, what said blonde thought to be the last pieces of sanity were no more.

Suddenly Sasuke sat up, looking around with eyes Naruto recognized as on guard, something was happening, but he was too tired to care, to hollow. The Uchiha quickly pulled his clothes back on, then frantically started making hand-seals, seeming almost paranoid. Naruto barely noticed as the roof that he was staring at seemed to change from what it was to something dirty and run down and back again before darkness consumed his mind, and just seconds later Sasukes Illusion broke, but that second the raven was gone, disappeared into thin air and leaving only a small cloud of smoke and Naruto's new scars as evidence he had ever been in the run-down basement of the main house of the Uchiha-district.

Tsunade and Cat both sighed in relief as they finally broke the genjutsu they'd been trying to dispel for the last half hour, Cat falling to his knees whilst the blonde woman only needed some deep breaths.

"Bear, stay here with Cat," she said loudly. "Lynx, Snake, you come with me." The two ANBU followed her as she walked into the building, following the weak, weak chakra-trail that was detectible there down to the basement.

As she got to the bottom of the stairs she could see nothing but darkness, but her eyes quickly got used to it as she walked further through the empty rooms until she suddenly came to a halt at one of the doorways.  
"Fuck." She said, both Lynx and Snake knowing that it was bad if she said anything, but that only getting one word – it was bound to be more than just bad.

As the two caught up to her they saw what she'd seen, Lynx – who was fairly new in the ANBU force - gagging slightly at the sight whilst Snake merely looked away. The room before them was pretty much like any other bed in the building except for a bed in the center of it, and on top of that bed a bloody, bruised and all-too-clearly abused body. Tsunade, as soon as her mind was collected again, entered the room followed by the ANBU, and sat down on the low bed next to Naruto's body, and as his chest wasn't moving and there was no detectible breath she immediately felt for a pulse.

Waiting.  
Waiting.  
Waiting.

Nothing. Not a single beat, no sign of life.

Her mind was blank except for thoughts on Naruto, a silent tear landing on his bruised torso as she realized how afraid she was of loosing yet another of her loved ones, and she went through all that she knew that could possibly help the boy now. There was one thing…

She changed her position so she was sitting on her knees next to Naruto, then looked at his seal carefully. She wasn't sure how to tread, it had never been her strong side, but it was worth a try.  
"Bear, Find Tenzo…" she hesitated a while, knowing the man she was thinking of had the knowledge she needed, but that his emotions may overcome him. "And Kakashi, bring them here as quickly as you can." She needed to know how the seal works, and she needed Kakashi and Tenzo – since Jiraiya wasn't in the village they were the only ones that knew about who the seal worked well enough for what she needed to do, it was too risky for her to do on her own considering the fatal outcome that could be if It was done wrong.

**~X~**

_That was too close_. Sasuke sighed, mad with himself for nearly getting cough, yet he couldn't keep a devilish smile of his lips. _But it was definitely worth it. _

He entered the clearing where his team was sitting around an unlit campfire-place, coughing to make himself known.

"I trust she's awake?" No need to say any more, they all knew he was referring to Shizune.

"Yeah, but she was so tiresome we just put her to sleep…" Suigetsu replied, then pointed to a curled up figure lying outside one of the tents. "She's right there."

Sasuke walked over to the figure, waking her up by slapping her cheek, and then made her sit up and look at him. The mere look of him seemed to intimidate the woman, whose eyes gave away the terror that she refused to show by body-language, and he put his fingers to his lips as if to shush her before he spoke.

"Now, now, I'm not going to hurt you," _not yet,_ "Because I need you, you see. But it would be so much pleasurable for both you and me if you'd just stop trying to find ways to get away, wouldn't it?" She squirmed in the ropes constraining her, the chain holding her in place rattling when she moved. "I would want to get away in your position too, but I swear that it only gets worse if you don't try to cooperate, so be a good girl." Without waiting to see what she tried next or what her face revealed he turned around, returning to the others.

"I take it things went how you wished today?" Karin asked, the admiration in her voice so clear Sasuke had to remind himself why he'd brought her with him, the feelings she had towards him disgusted him, as did she.

"Yes, and tomorrow we'll set the operation into action," The raven smirked at his thought. "Tomorrow Konoha will fall."

**~X~**

"Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi nodded at the ANBU carrying a bear-mask that was standing at his door with Tenzo right behind him, a bad feeling was quickly creeping through him. "You need to come with me."


	21. Chapter 20

**Random Rambling: **Sorry this took long, I expected to finish it sooner, but the holidays were surprisingly busy. How were your christmasses?

As usual this is betaed by **ReixGaara**, but **YagamiImagay** also helped me out a good bit with this! Give it up for them, they're both awesome!

No more rambling then, and on with the story.

Oh yeah, and just tell me any thoughts or wishes, always welcome =)

**~X~**

**Chapter 20**

**~X~**

If shame had a face I think it would kind of look like mine  
If it had a home would it be my eyes  
Would you believe me if I said I'm tired of this  
Well here we go now one more time

Sick Cycle Carousel – Lifehouse

**~X~**

"Kakashi," When Kakashi and the ANBU that had gotten him arrived at their destinations the ANBU left, the first thing the silver-haired jounin noticed was that Tsunade was standing a mere meter away from him. "This is a bad scene."

"I can handle it," the jounin said confidently. _It can't be that bad._ But he hadn't seen Naruto's broken body. He hadn't been there when there was no life in those terrified, blue eyes.

"Here's the background then, and why we need you. It's…" Tsunade was hoping that she'd wake up before the words. That she'd sit up and realize it'd all just been a dream and that nothing had happened. But she knew she wouldn't. "It's Naruto, he's in a bad state. It's worse than _last _time, Kakashi. I would have waited with calling you so you didn't have to be here for this, but I need your and Yamato's knowledge, which is why I've called you both, Yamato is already with him. We have to open parts of the seal so that more of the Kyuubi's chakra will mix with his; it's the only chance we have.

"Where is he?" Kakashi asked, his voice filled with worry, yet at the same time sounding more hollow than the blonde woman had ever heard it.

"Through that door," she said, pointing to the door next to the one to the room where they'd found the blonde – they'd taken the chance moving him there where they'd set up a small triage stationbut they hadn't taken a chance at moving him further in his state.

"Has he started already?" There was no need for mentioning names as it was obvious that what he was asking about Yamato.

"No, he's just been making preparations. He wanted you to be present." _Just in case something happened, he wanted you here, because he knows what it's like when someone close to you dies and you could have been there but you weren't. He knows how much that hurts, as do I. _She silently led the way into the room.

Kakashi stopped dead as his gaze found Naruto's body – he couldn't believe what he was seeing, he didn't want to. The person lying on the make-shift bed on the floor of the cold, grey room was not Naruto. It couldn't be. His skin was too pale, his face was too bruised, his body to broken and he daren't even think about the boy's mind. He felt nauseous at the sight not because of Naruto's state, but because someone had been able to do something like that to someone so innocent and he couldn't understand it. He'd done horrible things himself, yes, but this… It was too macabre. Luckily he had a strong stomach, if not he might have vomited right then.

"How far have you come?" His voice was emotionless as he turned his eyes to Yamato, and it was just like he'd pushed all his thoughts aside, like he really was just _a tool_ at that moment.

"It's done," Yamato said; he'd just finished the last of alterations to the seal before they could start opening it. "Heck, I wish Jiraiya was here…"

"You're not the only one," Tsunade mumbled so low no one heard it.

"All that remains to do now is infuse it with chakra… Shall you or I do it, Kakashi?" Yamato, sounding as polite as always, asked.

"One thing, how far are we letting the fusion go, do any of you have a plan for that?" Both shook their head, as Kakashi had expected. The most obvious things were often the ones one forgot when working under pressure.

"Well have to try our way, but only a little at a time though – if we let it go too far there's no knowing what will happen." Tsunade answered.

"I'll do it, Yamato." Kakashi said, then walked over to the blonde boy and knelt by his side. He gently let his fingers find their way on the bare skin that he'd touched so many times before – which was so cold now – and slowly started sending an even chakra flow through his fingertips.

**~X~**

_Soon home_, Jiraiya thought as he approached the walls surrounding Konoha quickly. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, something wasn't as it should be. He sharpened his senses and felt the well-concealed hostile chakra that was all too apparent in the area, masking his own trail. The sannin, after much consideration, decided that it was his duty to find out what was going on, and so followed the _weaker-than-weak_ trail to a clearing not far from the Fire Village.

He knew he had to be careful, that these opponents were very strong he could tell from their chakra, and he moved the closest he felt sure they would not notice him. He was shocked seeing who was right there in front of him. He turned around quickly as he felt something behind him too.

"Who are you?" his voice was very authoritative as he spoke.

"Me?" the black-haired woman in front of him asked, playing dumb.

"Yes, you," he said, and in one swift movement he was behind her, holding a kunai to her throat. _It's not for nothing that you are one of the three legendary sannin, is it?_

"I'm Ka…" the woman was about to continue when Jiraiya suddenly realized who she was, hitting the right nerve to render her unconscious. He had to get away, quickly, subduing the urge to take a closer look. There was a possibility they might now he was there, and he'd much prefer getting back to Konoha over fighting with the brats, taking the woman over one shoulder as he left.

**~X~**

It had been slow at first, like nothing would happen, but suddenly the change occurred. In a flash Naruto's condition changed from being more dead than alive to writhing on the floor. As his body thrashed violently he fell of the bed, landing on the concrete floor with a dense sound. He was clawing at his own skin and letting out feral sounds. His eyes were wide open, but instead of their usual cerulean they were a clear red, his pupils slit, and his teeth were those of a carnivorous animal rather than a human. A chakra swirl surrounded his body and everyone in the room moved as far away as possible when large tails of red chakra appeared where a fox's tail would have been.

Kakashi's fists were clenched just a little tighter than normally, his body just a little tenser and his thoughts racing just a little faster. He'd witnessed when Naruto's and the Kyuubi's chakra had mixed before, but it had been nothing like what was happening now, nothing like the 8 tails lashing through the air. He could see that Naruto's skin was red from the chakra-storm around him, but where it should be scratched from his claw-like nails it was perfectly smooth, the fox was doing what it was meant to, heal the boy. At an insane rate. The thought was simultaneously running through both Yamato and Kakashi's mind that hopefully there wouldn't be any serious _problems_ when all was over.

In an instant the tails disappeared as well as the wild chakra that had filled the room, leaving not even a trace. Naruto's stilled. He lay flat on his back, gasping for breath as sweat ran down his body, his hair, which had grown slightly longer and now had a red shine to it, was sticking to his skin. Kakashi was at the boy's side at once, kneeling besides him. He took the blondes hand, holding it gently towards his lips as he whispered how thankful he was that the boy was still alive. Tsunade and Yamato both quickly joined him by Naruto's side, the medics remaining were they were at Tsunade's sign, the blonde woman quickly getting to work on checking the boy's vitals.

Naruto blinked a couple of times, then squinted his eyes as he yawned before he finally opened them completely. He looked at the three familiar faces looking down at him and even though he knew and trusted them all he couldn't help but shiver with fear as he felt fingers on his neck, checking his pulse. He bit his teeth together and tried to control the shaking as well as he could, but the tears that came from his eyes couldn't be stopped.

"Naruto," Kakashi said lovingly, the terror of the moments past still in his voice. "Koi…" he looked into Naruto's still blue eyes, finding himself thankful that they hadn't changed, and held his hand just a little tighter. "I'm so glad you're back."

Naruto smiled softly, but didn't speak, he felt too weak to do so. His fingers started stroking the skin on Kakashi's hands, feeling every imperfection, treasuring them. He was safe now, why was he still so afraid that he was shaking with every touch?

"Kakashi, we'll take him to the hospital now, would you let go so the medic," Tsunade nodded towards one of white-dressed people standing a distance away, "can carry him?" Kakashi shook his head.

"I'll carry him," the silverette said, for when he was about to let go of Naruto's hand the blonde had held on with all the strength he could muster, the boy's eyes had been pleading him not to let go.

**~X~**

"Hokage-sama," one of Tsunade's ANBU trails approached her as she sat on a bench outside of Naruto's hospital room, giving Kakashi a private moment with the boy. "There's someone that wants to see you."

"Not now," her voice was annoyed and all she wished for was that the guy nagging her would go away. "Tell whoever it is that it can wait."

"With all due respect, hokage-sama, I think you'll want to see this person." The ANBU persisted.

"No." There was not a single person she felt like seeing at the moment, not unless that person was a smiling, happy Naruto.

"It's not as much a thought as something I know for a fact, Hokage-sama."

"Whoever it is get's one minute and one minute only," she said sternly, her glare as she looked towards the ANBU was deadly.

"So you don't want to see me?" She turned her head, a wide smiling on her face as she saw who that familiar voice belonged to.

"Jiraiya!" she almost shouted out. "You're back." He held out his hands as she walked towards him, leaning towards him. She felt so weak when she was there in his arms, her usual strength seemed to almost have disappeared completely.

"Tsunade," Jiraiya said, tilting her head up to face him with one hand. "What's wrong?"

"It's…" She took a deep breath. "It's a whole lot, actually. Come with me, we'll talk somewhere private."

After she'd told him all that had happened in Konoha since he left she sighed, and he could see who much of a toll it had all taken on her. The politics, the paperwork – it wasn't such a hassle even if she didn't really like it, but her fear of losing Naruto was taking her over day by day. She'd already lost all the people closest to her, and the thing that scared her most – which was pretty much the only thing that scared her – was that they would die from her too. A tear ran down her cheek slowly, then it was quickly followed by many more until she was crying steadily. He walked over to her and silently held around her the few minutes until it passed, then kissed her forehead lightly before he sat down again.

"Now I have something to tell you…"

**~X~**

"Where the hell is Karin?" Sasuke shouted to no one in particular. "She's two hours late, we're going ahead with this **now,** without her."

"Juugo, will you carry girly?" Suigetsu asked, it would be hard to bring her along besides his sword.

"Sure…" The man nodded and took Shizune, who had her hands bound tied her back and her ankles safely bound.

Shizune wondered exactly was going to happen, but she didn't dare ask any further, knowing how mad Sasuke had gotten when she tried to dig into it earlier. She didn't have time to wonder for long though, as she was knocked unconscious before they started moving.

The three-and-one-unconscious shinobi quickly made their way the remaining short distance to Konoha, stopping when they were about 100 meters away from the walls. Sasuke turned to his team, giving them one last walk-through of what they'd be doing, and told them to mask their chakra trails well, then they moved closers to one of the guard posts on the wall, sneaking up towards the chuunin that was there.

"Sto-" The young male didn't have time to say any more before he was hit so hard in the stomach that it knocked the air right out of him, making him fall backwards panting.

"Slacking off on guard, are you?" Sasuke asked in a cold tone, and it seemed that at that moment the guard recognized him, his eyes growing wide in fear. "That's not good at all, but thank you for making things all the easier for us…" With that he looked over at Suigetsu, the man swinging his sword at the male, smiling as his head fell from his neck with a dump sound and rolled a short distance.

_Much simpler than expected, is Konoha really this slacking when it comes to guarding the village nowadays? _Silently Sasuke made his way from the wall and down to the ground in his former home, the Uchiha district, looking around the abandoned buildings and the empty streets – something that looked a whole lot like longing passing through his eyes a split second before he led the way on.

**~X~**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'SASUKE'S COMING BACK TO TAKE DOWN KONOHA'?" Tsunade shouted loudly as Jiraiya finished speaking, exactly what the man had expected.

"I encountered one of the Hebi in the woods only some kilometers outside of Konoha, Karin. I handed her over to the ANBU force that greeted me once I came here and took the time to tell them what I knew as well…" Tsunade shook her head, her fingers drumming on the table-edge like crazy.

"Holy… I have to get the news out and gather forces then. But honestly, who does that kid think he is – does he really think he can take over Konoha with only a team of four including himself?" She could barely believe what she'd just heard, already getting to her feet.

"The hokage tower," she told him before she used a teleporting jutsu and disappeared, the man following right after.

As Jiraiya arrived only seconds after her she looked up at him, announcing that she'd already called all Jounin, Hunters and ANBU to an emergency briefing, and that they'd be there in a matter of minutes. True enough, a minute later the first person showed up, Kurenai, and after that the rest followed, Kakashi arriving sometime in the middle of them all.

"Quiet." Tsunade said loudly as the horde of Jounin and ANBU gathered before her, silencing them. "We have an immediate _problem_ to take care of, Uchiha Sasuke, the traitor, has returned today to attempt taking down Konoha. He has two other, strong shinobi with him named Suigetsu and Juugo, and I will ask you all to be on guard and ready to fight, and you will be grouped one jounin, one hunter and one ANBU as far as it's possible, and beyond that I will make the groups as evenly skilled as possible. If you see the Uchiha or any of his accomplices, get him dead or alive…" She quickly started listing up the different groups they'd be in, looking over them and choosing carefully so the overall skill of each group would be good enough, at the same time giving them different areas to patrol. If any had doubted her leadership they now realized why she was chosen for the position, acting without hesitation.

As Tsunade looked at the remaining shinobi in the room she saw Kakashi standing by the door, and she could almost feel his anger and the killing intent seeping out from him, and she felt the same. She'd put him on a team with Nara Shikaku and Shiranui Genma, and she knew the team was probably the strongest she'd formed. The reason for it was that she had a strong feeling, almost like she expected that Sasuke would run into that team.

"Kakashi," she said, gaining the jounin's attention. "Are you ok?"

"Hm?" It seemed he'd just been woken from a dream, probably because he'd been deep in his own thoughts.

"Are you alright?" Her voice was soft, and she was truly worried for the man – Kami knew he had more than enough on his mind.

"It's just all so much, almost like a dream… Well, more like a nightmare." He turned and walked out the door to join his team so they could head towards the hospital, Tsunade had set them to patrol that area knowing that if she placed Kakashi further away from Naruto he wouldn't be able to focus completely on his task. That and simple human empathy, he couldn't bare tearing him far away from his wounded lover.

**~X~**

Naruto was asleep, and where should have been dreams nightmares were haunting his mind, making him scream out in fear.

_Crows came flying towards him, there came more and more all around him until all was dark, and then suddenly they were gone, but all was still dark. A figure emerged from the darkness, his hair and clothes equally dark, but his skin pale. H__e approached Naruto slowly, and even as the blond ran his fastest in the opposite direction he either got nowhere or the familiar shape just moved faster than him and kept catching up to him, so he gave up, collapsing to the ground. In a second the figure was by his side, kneeling. It put a hand to his cheek, tilting his face up to look at it – but where there should have been eyes, nothing. A nose, nothing. Lips, but there was nothing, only pale skin. The figure slowly stripped him of his clothes, all the while making him look into it's blank face, and even though Naruto wanted to do something it was like his arms and legs wouldn't listen. He started sobbing quietly as the figures hands ran down his body, but suddenly, as it got to a certain point he screamed out loud, the figure fading slowly until everything was just dark again. _

"Naruto…" He heard a familiar voice through the darkness, trying to wake up. "Naruto." It came closer and closer as he slowly woke from his sleep until he opened his eyes, looking at a face that had been dearly missed.

"Jiraiya, you're here?" his voice was clouded and his eyes confused, and Jiraiya smiled at him, giving him a moment to shake off his sleep properly before he answered.

"Yes I am, I came today." He remained calm as he spoke, and his face showed nothing of the worry that he felt for the blonde, for he knew how much the boy hated it.

"Oh," Naruto said, the silenced, he could tell that Jiraiya had something on his mind, some questions that he would soon ask. "What is it?"

"Naruto…" the sannin started, the he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he continued. "Who did this to you?"

Naruto bit his lower lip, closed his eyes and remained that way for about a minute before he felt Jiraiya's hand on his shoulder. He looked up and into the eyes of his father-figure, and he could tell that Jiraiya was honestly concerned with the answer and he had to speak, for the pressure within him had started to build and he didn't know how much more he could take.

"Sasuke." The name was whispered, the voice that said it cold and distant. Jiraiya nodded, it was as he expected.

"Are you going to be ok, Naruto?" he said, looking into the teens eyes, a single tear falling from the blue orbs.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I don't know."

**~X~**

"You," Kakashi said, his voice alone sounded like it could kill someone. "You are dead." Pakkun was already well on his way towards Genma, another nin-dog was getting Shikaku.

"Oh?" Sasuke said. "We'll see about that, won't we?" The previous teacher and student locked eyes, and not even the bravest of men would have dared step between them. When they broke off both Juugo and Suigetsu looked at their leader, but the black haired boy shook his head to their silent question. "I'll take this one down myself."

"Are you sure you're ready to die, Uchiha?" Kakashi asked mockingly.

"Oh, you think you can beat me, _sensei_? Well, I guess it's time to show you that students _can_ surpass their teachers, then…"


	22. Chapter 21

**Random Rambling: Sorry I'm not updating often lately – it's a combination of school, business and a half-time writers block that's stopping me… =/**

**So, here's chapter 21 for you, now please do tell me what you think of it! I like the ending myself…**

**~X~**

**~Behind Closed Doors~**

**Chapter 21**

**~X~**

How do you feel? That is the question  
But I forget you don't expect an easy answer  
When something like a soul becomes  
Initialized and folded up like paper dolls and little notes  
You can't expect a bit of hope

Through the Glass by Stone Sour

**~X~**

"_Oh, you think you can beat me, __**sensei**__? Well, I guess it's time to show you that students __**can**__ surpass their teachers, then…"_

Those were the words resounding in Kakashi's mind, repeating themselves just like an echo as he looked into the emotionless eyes of his former student. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, only realizing what had happened as he saw Sasuke retreating to where he'd previously been standing.

_He's good…_ _I need to focus._ Kakashi pushed all thoughts out of his head and a small change occurred, he turned into that which he was born to be, a shinobi. All emotions aside he prepared himself for a battle to the death. Sasuke's death, that was.

"Sensei, sensei…" Sasuke said in a taunting voice. "What happened to you, Kakashi? You seem quite out of the game." The raven smirked, obviously enjoying the moment.

"Sasuke, quick as always to a decision, I see. No, I was just giving you a head start – I didn't want things to be too easy for me either, then they're no fun…" Kakashi returned the smirk, highly annoying the raven. Then they both readied their stances for battle. Now there was no going back.

The two lunged at each other, and for Sasuke it was _just another fight, another opportunity to be the best –_ but for Kakashi it was so much more. It was for his village, for honor, for all that his father once had stood for and for his beloved. _For Naruto and all the pain you've put him through._

As Sasuke merely aimed to kill, Kakashi made sure that every blow the raven took hurt. He made certain that the Uchiha bled more from every scratch, that he was bruised harder by every hit and that he would never, ever be worth anything even if he should live – which he wouldn't if things went Kakashi's way.

**~X~**

_What's going on?_ Jiraiya thought to himself as he noticed two extreme chakra surges, but just as he was about to go to the window, which would have let him see the whole situation, the frail blonde on the bed before him started moving, He opened his sky-blue eyes and stared right into the man's very soul. When those cerulean orbs met Jiraiya's, it was the closest the man had been to tears in only Kami knew how long, for it was just as if he could feel the blonde's pain. Just as if it was he who had had to go through all the horrors that the boy had in his short life.

"Ji…" Naruto was about to say more, but before he had the chance the contents of his stomach announced that they didn't particularly like where they were residing and wanted to come up. Which they did half a moment later, depositing themselves into a well-placed bucket right beside Naruto's bed.

The blonde wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and took a sip of water from a glass that Jiraiya handed to him, looking thankfully at the man.

"How are you feeling?" Jiraiya asked, purely inquiring about Naruto's physical state, which the blonde understood.

"Better now," he replied, "But my head hurts like hell…" Jiraiya laughed a little, receiving a death-glare from the boy.

"It'll pass," the white-haired male said with a smile. "You know I'm here if you _do_ want to talk about it, Naruto." He wouldn't push the boy to speak, the blonde would tell him if he wanted.

"I know, but talking hurts, Jiraiya. I mean, it's… It… Why do these things happen to me? Does karma hate me that much?" His voice was breaking and tears threatened to spill as he spoke, and Jiraiya didn't particularly want to deal with it – he may know how to treat flesh wounds, but emotional ones were something completely different – but he knew he couldn't walk away, that would be even harder to do.

"I don't know, Naruto," He said, then walked over to the blonde's bed and put his arms around the child. "I don't know…"

**~X~**

Genma and Shikaku both arrived at the scene simultaneously, and they both saw the same sight as their eyes found the two figures before them. Sasuke and Kakashi were moving fast as lightning, but with all the suspense of the situation, to Genma and Shikaku, it seemed like everything was happening in slow motion.

"_Holy…_" Was all Genma managed to say before his mind was completely caught up in what was happening before him.

"_Fuck_…" Shikaku muttered.

The two bodies were quickly nearing each other, nothing special for a battle, but what made it extraordinary was that both men had a chidori in hand, and they both had an all too obvious determination to kill the other.

The two jounin that had just arrived at the scene weren't the only ones staring at the fight, on the opposite side of the fighting grounds Juugo and Suigetsu were standing, Shizune slung, still unconscious, over Juugo's shoulder.

Kakashi and Sasuke clashed together, a light so bright that all four of the match's audience had to turn away appearing as their Chidori mixed, creating a giant lightning-bolt between the two, then they both fell back to the ground leaving nothing but smoke behind, neither moving.

"Shikaku," Genma said as he quickly asserted the situation. "Check on Sasuke and Kakashi immediately! Dogs, go warn Tsunade and send all the jounin you come across on the way here." Still speaking Genma made way towards the two nin that had obviously been with Sasuke, but they were well prepared.

"Stop," Suigetsu said, he had to formulate some plan to get them out of their mess, and this would buy some time. "You'd better not come any closer or this little girl's dead." To prove his threat he took out a katana, holding it to Shizune's throat.

Genma wasn't sure what to do, but he didn't dare risk her life, remaining in his spot. He tried to read the lips of his two opponents as they whispered in low voices, but he couldn't, if so then his actions might have been different. If so then maybe a life could have been spared, for the two rogue nin were busy discussing what would be their best chance to escape, Juugo stating that they should kill the girl and leave her, which would keep the man busy, then leave quickly.

Faster than Genma could react, Suigetsu pushed the kunai he held to Shizune's throat into her pale skin, blood running slowly out around the sharp object. He let the body fall from his arms, and before she'd even hit the ground both he and Juugo were far fro the scene, leaving Genma kneeling by the lifeless body, praying she could be saved. If she'd been dead he would have chased after the rogue nin, but she wasn't, her chest still heaving slightly and her pulse weak but detectable. He tried to clear his head and think, tried to remember what to do. _Compression._ That's right, he had to compress the wound, make it stop bleeding… Quickly tearing up part of his clothing he made a makeshift bandage to tie around her neck, then his eyes ran over the scene, landing on Shikaku standing over one of the two unmoving bodies lying on the battlefield.

"Shikaku" He called out, to the male that was standing over Kakashi's body no more than 20 meters away. "What are their states?"

"They're both alive and badly wounded. Kakashi's chakra levels are dangerously low, I don't know how long he can hold up…

**~X~**

At the same time as the Godaime Hokage called out for an ANBU to take Sasuke away and knelt next to one of Konohas most valued and highest skilled jounin praying he wasn't too far gone, things were stirring far, far away. In a desolate desert somewhere in Rock Country, to be exact.

Seven men and one woman were sitting around a large, round table hidden somewhere under ground, they were the members of a group wishing to gather all the Jinjuriki to seal their Biju and gain the tailed beast's powers for their own gain.

One of the men, with orange hair and an extreme amount of piercings, rose to his feet, a completely unreadable expression on his face. He looked around the room and made sure all eyes were on him, then started speaking.

"Hello," he said in an emotionless voice. "You have all just returned from your missions to retrieve different biju, and all of you succeeded in bringing back the beasts you were sent to retrieve – well done. There are now only three beasts left to capture, those being the seven, eight and nine-tails. We will split up again, teams the same. Kisame, Setsu, you will be retrieving the seven-tails; Kakuzu and Hidan, you will be in charge of the eight-tails, and Sasori and Deidara will come with Konan and I for the nine-tails." He stopped as he heard the woman next to him clearing her throat.

"Nagato, are you sure they should be with us and not Kisame and Zetsu?" Konan said, her voice sounding just as calm as her porcelain-perfect face looked.

"Not for the sake of retrieving the nine-tails, but Konoha is a village with many talented shinobi. It will be simpler if we are more." The man stated, then looked at the other people present in the room, waiting for someone to speak.

"When do we leave, leader, un?" An older teen with long, blonde hair asked.

"Soon, Deidra. Once we have planned how to conquer the beasts we will set out." Pain replied, then walked out of the room, Konan following him rather quickly, leaving the rest to talk amongst themselves.

**~X~**

"Raccoon, Raven," Tsunade called out as she stood over Kakashi's unmoving form, having gotten to her feet after making sure he was still alive. "Get him to the hospital immediately." Before they could reply she was already on her way towards Genma and Shizune. _Please just don't be dead already…_

Genma looked desperately at Tsunade, his hands and clothes were soaked in blood that wasn't his and although he'd been in the same situation before it had never been quite the same. There had never been someone so close to death clinging to him to save them – on missions you either lived or died, there was no in between.

"What's her sate?" Tsunade whispered as she fell to her knees next to her deathly pale apprentice.

"She's alive, but she's lost a lot of blood. He slit her throat, I've tried to stop it but I didn't know how…" The man, who was normally very calm, looked like he was about to panic, and Tsunade decided to dismiss him, he would only cause trouble if he stayed.

"You did a great job, Genma. It's thanks to you that she's still alive. I'll do my best to keep her that way – now you should go clean up. Stop by my office later, ok?" She'd needed to hear what had happened in more detail later, and she wanted to check up on Genma too, but for now Shizune needed all her focus.

Genma nodded at her, words were failing him, and left – but instead of heading to his house, for some reason even he couldn't figure out, he went straight to Iruka's apartment.

"Don't you dare fucking die on me, Shizune," Tsunade said as she undid the make-shift bandages around Shizune's neck and looked at the wound. It was horrible, gaping wound that met her and she quickly realized that the chances of Shizune's survival were low. Very low. Close to zero low.

She scooped the woman into her arms and quicker than Naruto ate noodles she was at the hospital, carrying Shizune in through the doors as she screamed for someone to help her.

Everything passed so quickly, from finding her apprentice on the battlefield to getting her to the hospital to seeing her life slowly fade one crimson drop after another. Tears were streaming down Tsunade's face and she felt her hemophobia come crawling into her mind, but she pushed it away – she had to do this. She couldn't let her die.

One of the medic-nin in the room quietly stepped up to Tsunade after twenty minutes of her frantic actions to revive Shizune, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"She's gone, I'm sorry," he said, and only then did the blonde woman look down at her hands, her clothes and the pale, dead figure before her and notice the blood. There was so much blood. She started shaking as realization sank in, asking the medic to take care of Shizune as she left, going back to her office where she collapsed on the floor as soon as she closed the door. She wondered when the tears reserved for dead loved ones would fail her, because she didn't think she could bare losing yet another person she cared for.

**~X~**

Iruka was sitting in his living-room opposite of Genma. It had been a very, very strange afternoon.

When he'd come home from work at the academy he'd heard rumors that something had happened by the hospital and he saw at least two people he recognized as jounin running in the direction of that very hospital. He was curious as to what had happened, but he settled on the thought that it couldn't have been too bad since there had been no official warnings of anything, and he decided to go home. He would hear about it later anyways.

When he walked in his door he felt a familiar chakra and also noticed that the shower was running, going to the bathroom to see what was going on, a kunai in hand just in case.

When he opened the bathroom door and slowly stepped inside he saw Genma standing in the shower, steam filling the room from the scorching hot water running down his skin. Iruka could see that something wasn't right, and as was his worrying nature he quickly turned of the shower and handed Genma a towel, looking at him for a second before he asked what was wrong.

Genma had been different from his usual teasing nature when he stepped out of the shower and dried himself off, and he didn't speak until after he put on some clothes that Iruka got him and they were sitting in the living room.

Genma had started speaking about the battle, about all the blood, and Iruka was already worried sick thinking of that Kakashi might be dead when the other male said the words that cut into his soul. _'She was bleeding so much, and I was holding her, and she was bleeding… It was like I could feel her life run out, Iruka'_ Genma had said, but upon seeing Iruka's terrified reaction he'd quickly followed it up with saying that Tsunade had arrived at the scene and taken over, which calmed the younger slightly.

"Feel better now?" Iruka had asked when Genma had told him everything, and the man had nodded silently.

"Thank you, Iruka… You're an angel," he said, and he meant it. Just as he was about to say something more there was a knock on the door and Iruka got up to answer it.

"Tsunade?" Iruka asked as the door was opened, it wasn't every day that the Hokage came to his house.

"Iruka," she said, and he could both hear from her voice and see in her eyes that something was wrong. "There's been an incident… Shizune… Shizune is dead." She hadn't wanted to say it, but the words had to be spoken.

The chuunin remained silent for a moment as the news he'd received were sinking in, then tears started to fall from his eyes. Not knowing what he was doing, Iruka put his hands on Tsunade's shoulders and shook her, the woman remaining quiet with a blank expression on her face as he did so.

"You're lying!" he screamed at her. "It can't be true, you're lying!" Tsunade looked into his eyes, and seeing his desperation she couldn't hold any longer, tears again falling from her eyes. She hadn't felt this weak in so long, but aside from blood the only thing she feared was loosing her loved ones, and it was happening again.

"_You're not lying_…" Iruka whispered when she started crying.

"No, Iruka, I am not." She whispered, her voice sounding like it would break if she said any more. At that moment Genma chose to enter the scene, wondering what had caused Iruka's outburst.

As soon as the jounin entered the hallway he saw a crying Tsunade and Iruka's slumped form with his hands on the blonde's shoulders as if the chuunin would fall if he didn't hold on to something. It was obvious that the Hokage had brought bad news…

Iruka didn't notice him before he was only some feet away, but once he did his arms dropped from Tsunade's shoulders and he let himself fall into the older man's embrace, crying against his shoulder. Genma looked questioningly at Tsunade, who signed that she was leaving, then did so without an explanation or even a single word. She wasn't sure if she'd manage to repeat the news of Shizune's death one more time without breaking down again.

After Genma had gotten Iruka into the living-room again he sat them both down on the couch. Time past as the two sat in silence, Iruka's head on Genma's shoulder as he cried quietly, but after about half-an-hour the sobbing stopped, as did most the tears, and Genma spoke.

"What's happened, Dolphin?" he said as softly as he could, although he was pretty sure what new the hokage had brought.

"It's Shizune…" he whispered. "She's dead." Another sob.

Genma wasn't sure what to say, what to do – instead of saying anything he held the man he was in love with as he cried over a dead lover. Iruka would speak if he wanted to, and if not then, well, he wouldn't.

**~X~**

Kakashi was in a strange, strange place. There was nothing around him except for a thin, purple haze, and his whole body hurt possibly worse than ever before. He walked around the empty area searching for something, anything, but there was nothing at all. He was all alone.

Suddenly he felt something flowing through his body and he started gasping frantically for air, the haze around him fading until everything went dark, and then he opened his eyes to a bright, bright light.


	23. Chapter 22

**~xXx~**

Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 22

**~xXx~**

This is where we both get scared  
And this is where emotion flares  
This is where we both prepare

Navigate Me by Cute Is What We Aim For

**~xXx~**

"Wake up you fucking son of a bitch… Wake up for fucks sake…"

Kakashi was lying on a hard, very uncomfortable surface. He was lying on a hard, very uncomfortable surface and a familiar voice was swearing at him and an extremely uncomfortable, completely white, and way too bright light was shining straight into his eyes.

He blinked a couple of times, trying to sum up what had happened before he opened his eyes, much to his own displeasure as the light seemed to burn right through them and into his brain, and then sat up way too quickly, making himself dizzier than he had been in a long time.

"Kakashi, you're back… You had me scared there you idiot!" he heard the familiar voice, his mind working on high gear trying to recognize it, and as his vision returned and he could see the pink hair of the girl standing over him he suddenly understood who it was and where he was.

That was Sakura, and he was at the hospital.

"What happened?" he asked her groggily, the details were still a bit fuzzy in his head, but coming back quickly. "Where's Sasuke?!" instantly followed, shouted out without him even realizing how loud he was being.

"Calm down, Kakashi," Sakura told him. He may be her old sensei, but right now she was the one in charge. He'd been quite messed up when he came in, but as there had only been one serious injury it hadn't taken too much to fix him up, though she didn't have all too much chakra left in her when she was done, and he'd be getting a new scar at the right side of his abdomen running from where his ribs ended slightly diagonally down to his hip-bone.

"Sasuke was taken away by ANBU and healed just to the point that he's safe but not to the point that he's well, I reckon he's with Ibiki now, but I don't know. You were in quite the state yourself, but nothing too serious though… You'll be fine, but I want you to stay here for a couple of hours just to make sure, ok?"

Kakashi merely grunted, a loud, displeased, this-is-so-annoying grunt, then tried moving around a bit and found that there was nothing wrong with him other than that he was quite sore _everywhere_.

"I'd rather go somewhere else," he said. '_I want to be with Naruto. I need to be with him now…'_ he thought to himself, picturing the blonde's broken body as he'd seen not long ago at all.

"No, you will not." Sakura said firmly, putting a hand on his chest to push him down.

She failed.

"I think I will," he said confidently, one of the smug smiles that only he could manage barely visible through his mask.

'_His mask…' _The thought suddenly hit Sakura._ 'Why didn't I peek under it when I had the chance?'_ She mentally slapped herself as her ex-sensei got out of his bed and completely ignored her attempts at stopping him, leaving the room and making his way through the eerily white, medicine-scented hallways of the hospital.

**~xXx~**

Genma was starting to get scared. He'd known Iruka for a long time and he'd never seen the man as void of emotion as he was now. He'd never seen him so_ empty_.

Of course, he understood that with such a loss as what the younger male had just experienced the reaction wasn't abnormal in any way, but an emotionless Iruka… Well, who wouldn't be at least a little frightened?

"Do you want some food?" he asked in the gentlest voice he could muster, slumping down by the kitchen table on the opposite side from Iruka. The man had been sitting there in silence since he woke up, so for three hours now, not moving at all.

"Hm?" the brunette replied confusedly, obviously he hadn't caught a word of what Genma had said.

"Do you want some food, Iruka?" the very tired jounin repeated, but this time he wasn't even given any form for acknowledgement that he was heard. Genma, who was not a morning person at all and on top of that had hardly slept, snapped.

"IRUKA! Snap out of it, Iruka, you're starting to scare me! I know you lost her, but I'm right here, you know? I'm right here waiting for you and you're not even going to acknowledge that fact?" He put a hand over his mouth in disbelief of his own words as Iruka's head slowly turned towards him, tears in his chocolate eyes.

"I'm so-" he was cut of by his horrified admirer.

"That was out of place, Iruka. I'm so sorry, I should go now…" Genma quickly got to his feet and headed out of the kitchen when he felt a firm grip around his wrist, holding him back.

"Don't go, please," Iruka's voice was so wounded, pleading and needing that there was no way he could defy it even if he had wanted to, not that he did. He turned around to face the younger male only to feel his lips captured by the smaller's mouth in a desperate kiss.

Genma didn't quite understand what was happening and Iruka didn't really know why he was doing what he was doing, but it didn't matter as they were both caught up in the moment, bodies close together and mouths diverting the other's mind off his worries.

There was plenty of time for those worries.

Iruka moaned into the kiss that felt both so right and so wrong before he pulled back just a little, looking deep into Genma's eyes.

"I want you so, so much," he murmured in that hazy, lust filled voice that he so rarely used and only in certain situations, then he leaned towards Genma for another kiss, but instead of the mans lips meeting his he found that the other had pulled away and put his hands on his shoulders to stop him.

"Iruka," he said softly. "You're not yourself right now, and however much I want this I want you to want me in the same way that I want you, not just as a diversion from something. I can't stand just being that to you, I need this to mean something more or nothing at all. I'm going to leave now, and I'll talk to you later. I'm sorry, love." It was one of the hardest things he'd ever done, but he had to do it. He couldn't just be Iruka's rebound from another lover, that could never be enough when he'd fallen as deep as he had for that sweet, sweet man.

**~xXx~**

When Kakashi had found his way up to Naruto's room he walked straight to the blonde's bed without even noticing there was another person in the room. He kissed the blondes forehead lightly and put a hand on his cheek, tilting it upwards only to find the boy's eyes looking elsewhere than him.

Following the glance he looked straight into Jiraiya's eyes, cursing himself for not having noticed.

"What happened out there, Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked him calmly.

"Let's go outside for a moment," Kakashi replied, then looked back to Naruto. "I'll be back in no time, I promise." The blonde nodded and watched the two men leave the room, wondering what they needed to go outside to talk about.

"Now?" Jiraiya enquired, he'd caught most of the situation through listening to the whispers of the nurses and doctors around the hospital, but he hadn't yet gotten any trustworthy information about what had happened.

"He's caught," the silver-haired said, "He's not deadly wounded and Ibiki's taking care of him… We ended up Chidori to Chidori, but Sakura at least fixed me up, I'm not quite sure about his state though…"

"Do you know where I can find Tsunade?" She ought to know what was happening, Jiraiya thought, that and he just wanted to talk to her.

"No, I'm sorry." Came the reply.

"I'll give you some privacy and go find her," the white-haired sannin said, taking off down the hallway as Kakashi walked back in to Naruto's room.

He looked into the blonde's eyes, searching them for what the blonde was feeling, but there were so many emotions in them that he couldn't even separate them, so instead he walked over to his lover and sad down on the bed with him, lacing his fingers in his hair gently.

"How are you, Naruto?" he asked quietly, holding the blonde close.

"I'm not sure yet… I just… Everything's always like this, so messed-up." He answered, and Kakashi nodded. It was quite a good assessment of what had happened, if not a little understated.

"We got him, Naruto. He'll get his punishment now." Kakashi said after he pulled down his mask, his eyes never leaving the blonde's.

"Oh," Naruto said with so little emotion that it was just as if Kakashi had just commented on the clouds. It wasn't that he didn't care though, but by now he'd pushed all the happenings of late to the back of his mind in an attempt to forget – all he wanted was to move on.

"I love you." Kakashi said out of the blue, smiling as his beloved.

"Thank you," Naruto said hesitantly. "Thank you for not leaving me." He closed his eyes and laid his head in Kakashi's lap before murmuring four more little words. "I love you too."

Kakashi didn't know quite what to say and Naruto simply didn't want to say anything else, so they sat there in silence and did nothing_._

_Nothing_ had ever felt so good before.

A knock on the door ruined the moment, and just a second later an eagle-masked ANBU entered the room.

"Hatake," a male's voice said. "I'm sorry the interruption, but you will have to come with me."

**~xXx~**

It had taken him a while, but after looking in all the obvious places Jiraiya had almost given up when he thought of one last place. The place that she always used to go to when she wanted to be alone when they were younger, up on the hokage mountain on top of the second hokage's head.

He made his way there quickly, and just like before she was standing as far out on the rock carvings as she could without danger of falling, looking out on her beloved and hated village.

Slowly, but with just loud enough steps that she noticed him, he made his way to her side and put a hand around her shoulders, awaiting whatever reaction she would have. She turned towards him and rested her head on his shoulder, standing there silently.

"What happened, Tsunade-chan?" he asked her softly, it'd been a very, very long time since he'd seen her like this.

She tilted her head up to look at him with tear-filled eyes as she answered. "It's happening again, Jiraiya… I don't know what to do…" He hugged her close and was about to say something to soothe her when one of Tsunade's escort ANBU came to where they were standing, excusing himself.

"Tsunade, the council has sent for you, you are to meet with them immediately in your office." The cat-masked figure awaited her answer.

"I will be right there, you're dismissed." She said; she just wanted one more moment alone with Jiraiya.

As soon as the ANBU left Tsunade's eyes turned back to Jiraiya, and he smiled comfortingly at her, stroking a hand through her hair.

"I know it might seem like things are bad right now, Tsunade-chan, but you still have Naruto, don't you? And no matter what happens you still have me, ok. I'll be here for you. We'll talk more after your meeting." He let go of her a little reluctantly and she blinked her eyes a couple of times to clear away the tears she'd managed to keep from falling and nodded.

"See you, then." She said as she turned away from him and started walking, leaving Jiraiya alone and worried.

It didn't take her long to make her way back to the Hokage tower, and when she got there she walked straight into her office where Koharu and Homura were already waiting, their cold eyes looking straight at her.

_What's going on?_ She thought to herself, thinking hard to find a possible reason why they called her for a meeting. She almost gave up before the answer just popped into her mind. _Kakashi._

"I believe you know what this meeting will be about?" Homura said, pushing his glasses just a little further back on his nose and looking at her. "Kakashi should arrive any sec… and there he is." The man said as the door to her office opened and Kakashi was led inside by Eagle, who immediately left the room.

"Welcome, Hatake," the old man said, still a stone-cold expression on his face.

"I have to give you my answer now, am I right?" Kakashi looked over the people before him, silently thanking Tsunade for having the only kind eyes in the room.

"Yes, Hatake, that would be why we called you here." Koharu answered him coldly, her icy eyes locked on his visible one. "So, what is your conclusion?" she asked

"I…" Kakashi hesitated, the decision was one he didn't want to make. He knew he had to, though. "I will do the mission, so please do tell me more about it, and also about the time-span of it."

"Your mission will start as soon as we see fit, you may have to leave on one-day notice, and how long it will last is to be determined by how fast you can complete the mission." Koharu's emotionless voice said.

"What is it about?" Kakashi asked. "This mission must be something special, am I right?"

"Oh yes, Hatake. You will be infiltrating the organization Akatsuki lead by a man named Pain. We know for a fact that they are capturing and killing all the biju, but we do not know why. We also need to know more about their members and such, since we have reason to believe they might come to Konoha for the nine-tails."

"His name is Naruto," Kakashi coughed, his voice filled with suppressed anger.

"Excuse me, Hatake" Homura enquired.

"His name," The jounin now stated clearly. "Is Naruto. Not the nine-tails, not Kyuubi, not demon or monster or any of those things. His name is Uzumaki Naruto. And knowing that this mission might protect him makes my the choice I have made so much simpler to handle, because now I know I will be protecting him even if I am far away from him." Kakashi surprised everyone in the room including himself with his words, taking a few deep breaths to calm down. "Now then, tell me all I need to know in detail," he said, sitting down.

**~xXx~**

"Do you want some ramen?" Iruka asked Naruto. He realized that by now there must have been so many people asking the blonde how he was feeling that it must be tiring, so he'd brought the boy's favorite food.

"Thank you," Naruto said as the brunette handed him a steaming styrofoam cup. "I'm starving, you're awesome, Iruka!" The chunin smiled and laughed, happy to see the joy on his "little brother's" face. The boy sure had enough to worry about, so even just a tiny break should do him good.

"You're welcome," he said, watching Naruto eat the noodles at inhuman pace. "If you keep eating at that rate you'll be out of here in no time, unless you die from choking on a noodle, that is!" He wanted to know how the blonde was really doing, but he knew that he wouldn't just tell him even if he asked, so instead he'd try to lighten the boy's mood a little and make the day a little brighter. Naruto, who had somehow managed to finish the instant-ramen already, set the cup down on his nightstand and looked up at Iruka, thinking of something to say.

"So… How are you and Shizune doing?" He asked happily, having no clue what had happened. A pang of guilt and worry washed over him when he saw Iruka's expression change into the saddest he had ever seen, and he could see that there were tears in the brunette's eyes. "What's happened, Iruka?" he questioned, his former teacher taking a while to breathe before he answered.

"She's dead." He mumbled, drying his eyes with his sleeve. He didn't want to mention the part about Sasuke and his minions' involvement, so he said no more.

"I'm so sorry, Iruka!" Naruto apologized frantically, "Gods, are you ok? What happened?"

"I'm fine…" the brunette said, hopelessly drying the tears that kept falling. "She… It was…" He just couldn't bring himself to say what had really happened, so when there was a knock on the door he couldn't have been happier. "I'll get it," he managed to get out, turning his back to the worried blonde on the bed.

When he opened the door he was surprised to find Sakura standing there, telling him Tsunade had sent her to check up on Naruto. She failed to noticed the sadness in his eyes. '_Good,' _he though, and walked straight into the room and over to Naruto.

"I'll be leaving now, Naruto. I'll stop by later" Iruka said, and Naruto waved meekly at him as Sakura began inspecting his vitals. '_What the hell has happened'?_ Naruto thought to himself, making a mental note to ask either Jiraiya or Kakashi, whoever he saw first of the two.

**~xXx~**

"Fuck it." Tsunade said resting a hand on her desk, and Jiraiya shook his head. He couldn't believe the council, that ancient couple of idiots.

"They're just gonna send him away for an undecided period of time some undecided day not far from now when that kid need him the most?" He asked in disbelief, just to get the idiocy of it confirmed.

"Yes." The blonde woman said angrily, shaking her fist in the air. "I can't believe them, they're so… If Kakashi is gone for long I don't know if Naruto can handle it, he needs him."

"I know," Jiraiya wondered why they couldn't just send him, but assumed it had something to do with their hatred of the Kyuubi. "Those fucking idiots. I'd happily go in his place, but somehow I doubt they'd let me even if I suggested it just because they want to torture him, those bastards…"

"I know," Tsunade agreed, her voice followed by silence…a very long silence.

"What more did they say?" Jiraiya asked, knowing there had to be more. That silence had meant something.

"Nothing…" Tsunade said evasively, she didn't really want to speak about it.

"Tsu-chan, I can tell it's more than nothing. What did they say?" He could see right through her, but then again that was something he could always do.

"They said that… They said that I obviously still couldn't handle bloody situations. That what happened with Shizune and Dan was the same thing, and they implied that it was my fault…" Jiraiya could see that toll that their words had taken on her, and he put his arms around her for a brief hug before letting her go again.

"Let's get to the paperwork about this fucked up day, shall we?" he asked her, pouring each of them a glass of Sake.

"It has to be dealt with sooner of later," she replied, sighing. The fun of endless paper forms commenced as they both thought about other things.

**~xXx~**

Ibiki twisted Sasuke's arm in an inhuman angle, and if the boy didn't have such insane control over himself he would have screamed out in pain. The interrogation has started out not so bad, but the teen was so stubborn he wouldn't give away anything without Ibiki having to resort to drastic measures. Not that the interrogator at all minded torturing the Uchiha.

"Are you going to tell me why the fuck you came back to Konoha?" He asked for the millionth time, screaming the words into Sasuke's soon-to-be deaf ear.

"No." The Uchiha retorted stubbornly, biting his lower lip as he could feel the bones in his arm about to snap.

"Why. The. Fuck. Did. You. Come. Back. To. Konoha?" Ibiki barked at him. "Was it to take over the city?" he asked, and the raven merely snorted. "Was it to mess with peoples minds," This time the Uchiha smirked maliciously, as if he were proud of himself. "Was it for Naruto, huh? Did you come back here just to fuck him and mess him up?" The raven twitched ever-so-slightly, and he had the answer he knew he would eventually get. The boy was more fucked up than could be put into words.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking fucked up asshole? You come back to your home-town which has outlawed you just to fuck up your former teammate and best friend? Or did you have more business too? Was he just a perk?" Ibiki twisted Sasuke's arm so far it snapped, and the raven couldn't contain his growl when the pain of his arm breaking hit him. Ibiki smirked inside; the bastard deserved every single bit of pain inflicted on him.

"Do you want an answer?" The bastard Uchiha spit out, blood dripping from mouth after an earlier round of Ibiki pounding his face and abdomen. "Do you want to know why I came back?" He continued, well aware that he wasn't making his situation any better. Oh what the hell, he would sure be sentenced to death at any rate.

"In fact," Ibiki hit Sasuke's head so hard it instantly bruised and the boy could barely sit up straight any longer. "I do." He hit him once more, but this time much weaker so that they boy wouldn't get the pleasure of fainting.

"I came back," Sasuke had to stop to cough, spitting out some blood in the process. "I came back to fuck Naruto. He is _the best fuck_I have ever had, and I swear I've had many. Nothing could ever compare to his body beneath mine, struggling to get free even though he knows he wants me…"

'_Holy crap, this kid is so much more fucked up than I imagined_,' Ibiki thought to himself.

"Well, and to plan a take-over of Konoha, of course, but mostly to fuck him. I missed that tight ass of his so fucking much."

"That's it," Ibiki said, pulling the teen up from the chair he was slumped over. "You are so fucking messed up, Uchiha. I hope you die a slow, painful death." Ibiki walked out of the room and handed Sasuke over to the two ANBU standing by the door. "He just came back because he's a bastard," he said. "Tell them that for now, and I'll give a report tomorrow."

Everything went black for Sasuke as he saw Ibiki's back disappear in the distance, and he fainted into a world full of darkness and pain.

**~xXx~**

Naruto and Kakashi had been sitting in silence for a while, Naruto too tired to speak and Kakashi not knowing how to bring the bad news, but he finally decided to speak knowing he would have to sooner or later.

"Naruto," the blonde turned his attention from somewhere inside his head and to his lover, smiling. "I have something to tell you…" It was easy to tell from the man's voice that the news were bad, and even though Naruto braced himself mentally he still couldn't help but start shaking when he heard Kakashi tell him that he would have to leave for an uncertain amount of time sometime soon.

"Please, don't leave me," he pleaded with the silver haired male, but to no avail as they both knew.

"I have to go, koi. I wish I didn't, but I have no real choice…" Seeing the fear in Naruto's eyes was heartbreaking to Kakashi, and hearing the whimpering noises he made only contributed to making him feel like a monster for the fact that he would have to leave the boy.

"I'm so, so sorry, Naruto..." He cupped the blondes face and looked into his eyes for a long time, stilling the boy. "I love you," He said, then kissed the blonde in hopes of ridding his mind of at least some of the things going through it to give his lover some room to breathe.

* * *

**Random Rambling: I'm SO SORRY for the wait you guys - thank you for sticking with me! I had a block, and when I first got the ideas I just had NO time what so ever. But hey, I finally finished it. I have a whole bunch of mock exams coming up, which count for like 50% of my grade, and I have to study for them and shit, but I'll try and get new chapters up for you a little faster, promise.**

**Now, PLEASE do tell me what you think. I need to know.  
I think this story will be coming to an end soon, but I am not entirely sure. What do you think I should do?**


	24. Update

Hey Y'all.

This is just a little update to let you know that I'm sorry I'm taking so long on the next chapter, but I've had a complete block for this fic.  
I'm back on track now though, and writing what I think will be the last chapter. It'll hopefully be done by this weekend since I only started it today and it's coming along quite nicely.

I'm listening to 3 Doors Down and doing my best to finish it for you guys when I could actually get a good nights sleep, trying to make up for taking ages.  
Forgive me?

Love,  
Silly


	25. Chapter 23 Pt 1

**Random Rambling/Authors Note: Since this final chapter seems to be taking me ages I am splitting it up, here is part one for you!  
I am terribly sorry I am taking ages, but a combination of a writers block and a whole lot going on in my life just makes writing hard, you know.**

**Well, tell me what you think at the end, won't you?**

* * *

**Chapter 23**** – Part 1**

**~xXx~**

I'm here without you baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind  
I think about you baby  
And I dream about you all the time

I'm here without you baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight girl it's only you and me

Here without you – 3 doors down

**~xXx~**

_Naruto couldn't keep it inside of him, hearing the words spring from Kakashi's lips - "I have to go, koi. I wish I didn't, but I have no real choice…"  
They'd kissed, but whereas it usually stopped there, instead of letting the jounin pull away Naruto kept him close and deepened the kiss. _

_"This is a bad idea," Kakashi said, his mind fighting both his body and heart to speak those few words.  
"I don't care. I need you." Naruto's breath was warm on his neck and he pulled back just enough to look into the blonde's eyes, but before he could react soft lips were again connecting with his, taking his breath away._

_Naruto tugged heard at Kakashi's clothing, trying to pull them off the man without further luck as he was reluctant to anything at first, but eventually he had to give in to the blondes will. __He pulled off the t-shirt he was wearing, throwing it to the floor, and just as the blonde got our of his own shirt he was lifted up by Kakashi's strong arms and carried into the bedroom. _

_"I love you, Kakashi." The blond said, his blue eyes looking straight into Kakashi's charcoal and red. "Please?"_

_Kakashi didn't have it in him to try and stop things from going where they were headed any longer, he'd been longing, lusting for the blond for too long. Now that the gates were open the floods would come. __Stepping out of his trousers, Kakashi joined Naruto on the bed, tracing fingers across the soft, marked skin on his abdomen. _

_"You're beautiful," He said. "In every single way that a person can be, you are beautiful."_

Naruto woke up to a wet pillowcase and swollen eyes, sitting up on the side of the double bed that felt so empty, resting his feet on the ground. It was either late night or the early hours of the morning, but he wasn't tired – too used to waking up in tears at ungodly hours by now.

It'd been almost a year.

Almost a year since the man that he loved walked out of the village gates and left. Almost a year since his heart started breaking, getting more destroyed for every day that Kakashi did not return. He didn't even know if he was still alive as over a month had passed since last he heard anything from his silver-haired knight.

He got to his feet, stumbling into the kitchen for a glass of water and taking a glance at the clock at the same time. Forty-eight minutes past three in the morning and he wouldn't get another minute of sleep – a haze of tiredness hung about him, but he wasn't sleepy. He wasn't sleepy at all, he just felt dead on the inside.

'_If I'm beautiful,' Naruto remembered thinking from that time. 'If I'm beautiful then you are divine, Kakashi.'_

_He grabbed the older man's hand and pulled him onto the bed, on top of him, and struggled to pull of the remains of his clothing, barely managing to do so with the help of his lover. _

_Lips on lips, skin on skin, souls entwined. That was them. The passionate kisses and loving touches never seemed to end, and however a situation such as what was going on would have made him feel before, now the blonde couldn't have felt safer. Nothing would ever feel better than Kakashi's body against his, the strong arms of the jounin wrapped around him. _

"_Please," Naruto begged. "Please, I need you. Now." He was in pain – knowing that Kakashi would leave him hurt more than anything else ever had or could – but as he spoke lust filled his voice and covered up the worry, even in his eyes. _

"_Ready?"_

The days passed by so slowly, the nights twisted time even more, and Naruto was out of his mind. He was longing, lusting, needing the man that had left the village so long ago now. Longing, lusting, needing – but most of all missing.

During the days he would do nothing, fill them up with empty actions and unmeant words and walk aimlessly around. At times he would meet up with friends, go to lunch with Iruka or help Tsunade out with work and it would make his day a little brighter, but only for so long. Sooner of later the loneliness would come crashing, and he would stay inside for days on end, shutting out the world.

He was much thinner now than that half a year ago, due to the fact that he hardly had an appetite and therefore didn't eat much, and also because he would train to fill the empty void inside of him. Train to make the hours pass.

He always trained by himself these days, no one could measure up to Kakashi, and so he saw no point in sparring them.

_Kakashi was careful as he stretched the blonde, __noticing every emotion that passed his face and ever single sound passing his lips. _

_Naruto moaned loudly as Kakashi hit something inside him that made currents pulse through his body, _

"_Again…" he whispered. "Do it again,'Kashi!__"_

_  
The silverette could do nothing but comply, and he struck the blondes prostate again__, earning a loud moan of pleasure. He removed his fingers from the blonde and repositioned himself atop the boy, looking into his hazy eyes. _

"_Now" Naruto said__ huskily. "I need you in me, 'Kashi. Right now."_

Hours had passed and it was more morning than night as he opened the curtains and looked outside to greet the sun as it rose. One of the few things he still took pleasure in were sunrises – they gave him hope. They gave him hope because if the sun could disappear and return exactly the same a night later, why couldn't his lover. They gave him hope because he had a feeling that Kakashi would come walking back through the gates one of these mornings.

Kakashi -  
Kakashi was running, walking, walking, running. Mostly running.  
Being chased through the landscape that he will never remember by a memory so strong that it is clearer than the present.

_He pushed__inside of the blond, and it felt so good. Kakashi was surrounded by the beautiful boy beneath him, body and soul alike, and he didn't take his eyes off Naruto's for even a second as he pulled out, pushed in, pulled out, pushed in over and over again. _

_Naruto was shivering, his lover worried that something was wrong, but as he hit that magic spot one more time he realized that they were shivers of pleasure this time, not of fear. _

_"You're so tight," He whispered into Naruto's soft skin. "So tight, and so good." _

_The blonde bit his lower lip not to shout out, then swung his arms around Kakashi's neck and pulled the man just a little closer.  
He pulled his nails over the larger man's back to leave marks of his presence, all in the heat of the moment, and the jounin groaned from the pain that only served to turn him on further. Pain always had that effect on him, somehow_.

Naruto sat in the kitchen for hours, doing nothing. Eventually he got bored and picked up the knife that was lying just in front of him and stared at it for minutes battling his own mind until he lost, pulling it across the skin on his left forearm. He'd forgotten that stinging feeling, the warm blood. He'd forgotten the way that it made him feel better for periods of seconds but would leave him with nothing but more scars in the end.

He wanted to continue, to escape into momentary reliefs from the longing he felt at all times, but he didn't let himself. Kakashi wouldn't approve. Instead of repeating his actions he put down the knife and started chewing on his lower lip until he eventually drew blood.

As Naruto went through his personal dilemma, Iruka worried for him. The brunette was laying awake, eyes flickering from his lover sleeping besides him to the ceiling to the picture of the blond boy on his nightstand. He tried to take care of the blond as best he could, but there was only so much he could do for someone that didn't want help unless that help came in the form of a certain man.

Genma woke up, he was a jounin after all, and his ears had picked up on the slight change in Iruka's breathing.

"Worrying about him again, love?" He was used to this by now, waking up in the middle of the night to Iruka lying still in bed and looking at the ceiling – now wasn't even the middle of the night. They'd been living together for almost four months, and at least five weeks worth of nights he'd woken up to it.

"Yeah," Iruka yawned and moved closer to his lover, snuggling close with his back to the man's chest. "I'm sorry I woke you up." He said, and he meant it. He should be happy, his life was good -- great, but he just couldn't stop worrying about the boy that he once took in like a little brother.

"It's ok, baby," Genma started rubbing his back and working out the tensions, doing his best to soothe Iruka.

"I just… I can't help it, you know. He's like family, and I wish there was something I could do."

"You've tried your best," Genma said, slowly working his lover around until they were facing one-and-other. "Now get some rest, dolphin. I love you."

"I love you too," Iruka said and closed his eyes. He didn't sleep any more that morning, but that was ok, he had to get up soon anyways.

Naruto had to _get up_soon as well, he had a meeting with Tsunade. Jiraiya had told him the day before when they had lunch that she wanted to see him – they hadn't talked in too long. She'd been busy and he'd been shutting himself away from basically everyone but Jiraiya – the _pervy-sage _seemed to be the only one who slightly understood him as of late.

Browsing through his closet the blonde pulled out a new pair of boxers and his new regular outfit, black shinobi trousers and a matching shirt. He quickly pulled the clothing over his head and went to the bathroom to clean up – normally he wouldn't bother, but he knew how Tsunade would react if she saw how far he'd fallen from any kind of grace.

"_Faster," Naruto moaned without even noticing. His lover, however, picked up on the word and acted on it, making his movements just that, faster, and a little harder. He let out a deep breath concealing a moan as he made love to the blond, feeling sensations that he had never felt before._

'_So this is what they mean by making love?' he thought to himself. 'Why have I spent all my time on meaningless affairs and fucks when this has been possible all along?'_

_To tell the truth he knew the answer, because he had been scared to make such a commitment to himself or anyone else, and __also he had never had someone that he loved this way._

"_Naruto," he breathed as he felt himself nearing the end. "Gods, Naruto – you're so good. So fucking good." _

_The blonde looked back up at his lover and bit his lip to keep back a feral sound, not succeeding. He made a sound a combination of a purr, a growl and a moan, and Kakashi moved a hand to his face, stroking his whiskered cheeks._

"'_Kashi," Naruto moaned loudly when it was finally too much to contain."'Ngh… I'm gonna…" He couldn't say any more before he felt something he'd never even thought possible. The best feeling that he'd ever had, an exhausting pleasure moving through his body and all his muscles clenched, breaking Kakashi's limits for self-containment as well. _

"_Naruto," He breathed as he came inside the boy, collapsing from exhaustion and pleasure right after, just lying there facing the blond. "Beautiful." He whispered, smiling._

_Naruto smiled, a smile that said more than a thousand words ever could__, and snuggled up towards the man's chest, falling asleep._

The blond quickly washed his face and combed his hair into somewhat less than a crows nest. He was about to walk out of the bathroom when, for some reason he wasn't quite sure of, he stopped and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

His reflection, he though, didn't look very much like him at all. Not the him that he once was, anyways. The boy in the mirror was much thinner than Naruto had ever been. True enough that his muscles were well-defined through his clothing, but he was still too thin. Nearly every bone was visible through his skin. His skin, which was now a pale white-tint instead of the healthy, glowing color it had been before. Under his eyes were large, black bags, and the blue orbs that used to shine with hope and promise now showed nothing but defeat.

'_What have I become?'_Naruto thought to himself as he stared at the boy that wasn't at all him but still more him than anyone.

He dragged himself out of the bathroom and considered grabbing a fruit for breakfast, but he didn't bother. He wasn't hungry – not that he ever was these days – so instead he made his way out of the apartment and towards the Hokage's tower.

_Several days they'd had Sasuke captured. Several days Ibiki, aided by the other interrogators of Konoha, had tortured the Uchiha for an answer as to why he'd come back and why he'd done what he had to Naruto__. Several days, and still, even having used some of the worst things they could come up with, they had gotten nowhere. It was at the point where Ibiki was simply ready to give up, something that he never did, because he truly believed that the only reason Sasuke had returned to the hidden village of the leaves was because the man was truly evil to the core and majorly fucked up._

_The interrogator had already voiced his opinion to the Hokage, saying that he doubted they would get anywhere with someone such as Sasuke. _

_Tsunade deeply hated the Uchiha. She'd never liked him, but for what he'd done to Naruto she truly hated him. She'd seen first hand what pain the former prodigy had caused the blond, and she had to punish him somehow. She would have sentenced him to death, but after thinking things through she realized that doing so wouldn't be as much punishment as it would be letting Sasuke of the hook easy. Much easier than what he deserved. _

_That afternoon when Ibiki came to her office after yet another fail at extracting information from the traitor she told him of the plan she'd come up with for him. How he would have to pay for what he had done. _

_She knew how much the raven loved intellectual company and hated being around "stupid individuals" as he called anyone not quite on his level, and so, she said, she would have him locked up in the psychiatric ward until they could find out what better way to punish him for his horrible deeds. Locked up and constantly guarded._

_After hearing her words Ibiki simply nodded. It was a good idea considering who they were dealing with, and it was also seemingly the one that would annoy and, in the long run maybe even harm the Uchiha most. _

Kakashi's every limb was aching as he ran through a seemingly endless forest, past rivers and hills and roads that weren't his to follow. As his body moved automatically there was only one thing on his mind, and that was Naruto.

All that he could think of was the blond. All he had been able to think of for the past year. All that he could think of and picture and hear and smell and imagine was the blond. He never thought he would miss anyone more than he missed Obito and Rin and the Yondaime, but he had been wrong. He missed Naruto, his Naruto, so much more.

He felt absolutely horrible for not having sent word to his lover for over a month, but there had been no possibilities. At times he didn't have the means to do so, and when he'd found himself able to it would have come with a too high price.

Kakashi wasn't the only man running; his lover was doing the same thing – and infinity away Naruto was running over the rooftops of Konoha, making his way to Tsunade in her office in the Hokage tower, finding himself enjoying the cool wind on his skin and the crisp air of morning more than he'd enjoyed anything lately.

As soon as he got close he slowed his pace and calmed himself down, looking composed as he jumped down from the top of the city to street level and walked the last couple of 100 feet to the entrance, proceeding to make his way to Tsunade's office.

"Naruto," She said as he walked through the door. "I've been expecting you."

She couldn't help the slight worry in her voice upon seeing the boy in his current state. Drained of all life, far too thin and just, simply put, a mess.

"Hey," The boy simply said, smiling falsely.

"How have you been lately?"

Naruto said nothing for a while, and then sighed. _I don't want to lie_, he thought to himself. _I don't want to lie any longer._He looked up at the motherly figure, eyes filled with emotions, and decided to speak the truth for the first time since he last saw Kakashi.

"I miss him," Naruto said, his voice but a whisper at first. "I miss him so much you have no idea. Every day without him tears my heart a little further apart, and I don't think I can hold on much longer without him. It just hurts that he's not here. It makes everything impossible." Tears were running down his scarred cheeks as his hoarse voice finished, and Tsunade rose to her feet and walked around the desk and over to the blonde, taking him in her arms.

"Naruto, thank you," she whispered into his blonde mane.

Naruto didn't quite understand what there was to thank him for, but to Tsunade there were several things worth thanking for. That the boy was still alive. That he finally opened up. That he was still himself somewhere deep beyond those far too often empty eyes.

As Naruto and Tsunade simply stood there, in silence, Iruka was busy teaching a classroom-full of unruly genin as he happened to glance at the calendar and coming to a sudden realization that made him excuse himself from the children and leave the classroom. It was with tears in his eyes that he ran into Izumo and mumbled out that the other male take care of his class.

His pace became quicker and quicker until he was eventually running, and then he came to a halt before a gray stone only standing out from all the others because of the tiny pig sculpture on the top of it. It was an anniversary of sorts, exactly one year since Shizunes death.

He collapsed to his knees in front of her grave and gave into the tears and sobs and the heartbreak. Although he was happy with someone new he still couldn't quite let go of the woman who had been both a good friend and more. It would be hours before Genma found him sitting there, leading him home and comforting his broken heart.

Still, Kakashi was running.


	26. Note concerning the final chapter

Note:  
I am terribly sorry it has taken me so long with this story. I got a long, long writers block, then just fell out of writing fanfictions. Still, I owe you guys an ending to this story, at least, so I'll be writing and publishing the final chapter here before the end of the year. Maybe even before the end of the month.

Love, Randomly


	27. Chapter 23 Part 2 The End

**Chapter 23 Part 2**

**~x~**

All those years  
After all these years  
Forget about all the troubled times  
And after all these years  
Forget about all the troubled times ( the troubled times )

All those years  
I was hurting to feel  
Something more than life

After All These Years - Silverchair

**~x~**

Naruto smiled, the first time Tsunade had seen the blond in a better mood than near-suicidal for a long time. Somehow, telling her his feelings – sharing with someone just how much he missed Kakashi, helped at least a little. At least then there was someone else who knew what he was going through.

"I'm sorry if I've worried you, Tsunade baa-chan." The blond looks apologetically at her. Although most his feelings were focused on someone he didn't even know if was alive – although he hoped, so dearly – he also realized that his own actions were affecting others when confronted with it this way. "I never meant to do that, it's just so difficult not even knowing if he's still…" He can't bring himself to say the words out live – bring the doubt to life. It becomes to real then.

"It's ok, Naruto. And Kakashi will return. I promise you he will, like always."

Somewhere far away, Kakashi's legs were so tired they were about to give in and send him tumbling to the ground. Still, he doesn't stop, rather pressing on towards home. Towards Konoha, and Naruto. He's been gone for so long he's almost forgotten what the village looks like – everything seems so very distant. Everything but Naruto – every inch of the blonde still trapped in his fingertips like not even a day has passed.

All he really wants is to get home to his lover – and he will. There's nothing stopping him any longer, he's taken them all down. It took a year, and almost his life, leaving him with more scars than before – but he made sure Akatsuki would never rise again, killing every last member of the group except for the Uchiha for what they'd done to _his_ Naruto and others like him. He couldn't let them get away with it – so he'd lied, cheated and pretended to get into their ranks and then betrayed them all.

The look on Pain's face as he tore his heart out forever imbedded in his memory as the end of something terrible and the beginning of what would hopefully be better days. All he wanted was to get back to Konoha, and so he ran the roads and made his way through the treetops. Only a couple of days left, and he'd get there.

One person that wasn't running, was Iruka – stuck fighting his past by an old lovers grave. Hours had passed before Genma had come home not finding his lover there – then realizing what Iruka had realized. _Crap_, he thought. _How could I forget something like that? The one that I love, and I'm not there to keep him together for when it all falls apart. _

It didn't take him long to figure out where the brunette had gone, nor to get there. He slowed his paced when he came to the edge of the cemetery and walked slowly towards his lover, hunched by one of the newer graves. Putting a hand on his shoulder, he crouched down next to him.

"Iruka," he said, calmly. "I'm sorry I didn't realize earlier. I should have been there for you."

"I-It's not your fault," Iruka stuttered through sobs, tears running from his beautiful, dark eyes.

"What happened may not be my fault, but not being there for you today was. How long have you been out here, baby?" He put his arm around Iruka's shoulder and felt the shivers run through the smaller man's frame. "What do you say we get you home, huh?"

Iruka dried his tears and tried to compose himself, breathing deeply a couple of times before he looked up, returning Genma's gaze. He put on a smile for his lover – half feigned, half caused by knowing his lover to be such an amazing man.

"I've been out here a while…" An understatement, Genma could tell, but one he let his lover get away with given the situation. "I miss her."

"I understand, Iruka. It's ok. We all have people we miss." Genma got up, and with strong arms pulled Iruka with him before picking him up like a child. "Now let's go home, lover." Spirits lifted at least a little by his gentle lover, Iruka pecked him on the lips and closed his eyes. He was so tired.

**~x~**

_Only two days left now. Only two days left. _Kakashi kept repeating the mantra to himself as he moved as fast as he could. He'd stopped briefly for a meal and a couple of hours of sleep in a small village with a tiny inn, but now he was back on the road. All he could think about was the blonde – how he was doing, what he was doing. If he was going to be alright when he got home again. _Only two days left now._

As Kakashi repeated a mantra to keep himself running, the traitor of Konoha was repeating a mantra to even keep sane. He'd been trapped with not a soul to talk to for almost a year, the only thing in his favour the knowledge of what he'd done to his once-comrade, Uzumaki Naruto; his only entertainment taunting the guards repeating bits of information they already knew, pretending he would give them more but never coming through. By now, though, they'd long since stopped listening. Mostly, he spent his locked up days staring at the wall or sleeping on the hard floor.

**~x~**

After his meeting with Tsunade, Naruto had started thinking about another person he'd probably worried more than he should, and he began feeling terribly guilty for how long it had been since he had actually talked to Iruka – the only one who'd been there back when he was a kid. He knew that Iruka's former lover had died quite a while ago now, and it struck him that he hadn't been there at all for the brunette, even if he had always been there for him. He felt terrible, but simply hadn't had the energy to concern himself with anything other than his own pain.

He decided to stop by Iruka's new apartment to see if he was home, maybe apologize whilst he still had the resolution to do so – before he fell back into the depression he knew was coming. Knocking the door, he heard footsteps on the inside come closer and closer until the it opened and Genma was there on the other side.

"Naruto?" he said, surprise in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I… Uhm…" Naruto was having a hard time finding the words, turning shy at the company of someone he didn't know all that well. For the past year he'd lived mostly in recluse, and he was no longer used to talking to others. "I'm here to see Iruka, if he'll see me."

"I'll tell him you're here, come on in. you can sit down in the kitchen and wait if you want." Genma put a hand on his shoulder as to say welcome in, realizing he shouldn't have only when Naruto flinched, fear flashing in his eyes for a second before he managed to regain composure. "Oh… I'm, uh, sorry…" Genma said, unsure how to deal with the situation – then walked out before Naruto had the time to respond.

A moment later, Iruka was there in the room with him, sitting on the opposite side of the table with swollen, red eyes and tear-tracks down his cheeks. Neither of them knew what to say, not having the words to make up for all the things that had passed unspoken between them for so long now. After a far too long silence, Naruto got out of his chair, walked over to Iruka and threw himself around his throat like he would have when he was younger. _It feels so good to feel the warmth of another person, even if it's only Iruka.._. Naruto tensed for a moment when Iruka's arms locked around him, flashbacks to the nightmare so long ago and he wanted to run, but Iruka held on until the boy realized he was safe, then let go.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said, earnestly.

"So am I, but it's all forgotten now. I've just been worried, Naruto. I was afraid I was losing you completely."

They talked for a little while, before Naruto began to notice how tired Iruka looked, excusing himself saying he had to go, that he had something to to. He left them in peace, Iruka feeling at least a little better after finally having been reunited with the boy he considered a little brother. Naruto, however, didn't feel the least bit better. If anything he only felt worse, realizing just how much he missed Kakashi's closeness when Iruka's arms were safely around him.

"_Kakashi, please come home to me soon." _He whispered into the wind. _I'm starting to lose all hope of seeing you again, it's been so long_, his thoughts continued. Defeatedly, he walked home and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling and imaging for the millionth time Kakashi coming through the village gates again.

_I miss you so terribly. I can't stand this much longer._

Twenty-four hours pass without the blonde moving an inch. The first few hours he stared at the ceiling, the next few he thought of his 'Kashi, and the many remaining he sleept. Nightmares haunt him, images of that night – of Sasukes face. He screams, but no one is there to wake him. The silver-haired jounin that should be there _isn't_. He is trapped with no one to save him until he wakes up in tears, memories of Sasuke, of his childhood.

Eventually, the Kyuubi saw fit to interfere as she didn't want Naruto's shape to deter any more than it already had – another suicide attempt was something she'd prefer to keep him away from, for her own sake as much as his. It took effort on her side, but she cleared his mind by calling him to her, and the boy found himself yet again outside the large cage containing the fox-demon.

"Kit," she said lovingly, for she was truly worried about him. "It's all a dream, but you've been dreaming for more than half a day now."

"I'm really tired…" the blonde was muttering, speaking under his breath and the fox had to focus all her hearing to tell what he was saying.

"Even if you hare, you have to wake up." _If you don't, you'll be stuck in this part of your mind again. I'm not sure how many times I'll be able to save you from it._

"I don't… I just wish he were here. I hate it that he's gone, I don't know what to do… I can't deal with anything when he's not around…" Tears were starting run down the blonde's cheeks, and he looked up at the Kyuubi with big, blue eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"

"I can't give you every answer, Naruto," the fox murmured deeply. "But you have to try and live, even if he's not here. I know it looks dark when you haven't heard from him in so long, I agree with you, but I can't let you return to where you were. You've come so far, don't throw to waste all that he did for you."

The words scared Naruto even more than his dreams had, making him face the scenario that Kakashi might actually be dead. That maybe he wasn't coming back. It tore his heart apart, he felt an actual pain stabbing in his chest as he broke down in the darkness by the Kyuubi no Kitsune's cage, comforted by her murmers and with her tail through the bars stroking him softly. For a demon, the fox had become strangely attached to her weak host, the boy waking a motherly instinct in her.

What Naruto didn't know, was that as he retracted back into his mind, into a near-comatose state, Kakashi was running up the road leading to the village gates. He could see them clearly now, and the guards on patrol could see him – quickly realizing who it was. Izumo was first to tell, and also the one who sprinted off to find Tsunade. Just in time, she managed to get to the gates and greeted Kakashi there. He explained to her what he'd done, that he'd taken them all down from the inside. Quickly spat out every detail, aching to see his blonde again.

"He's not been doing very well without you." The hokage met his eyes, and she suddenly saw something in them that she hadn't seen in the man even once in the many years she'd known him. "You've not been doing too well either, have you?"

"I've missed him. I need to get back to him, now. Need to let him know that I'm here."

"I understand." She wanted to let him go, but there was one thing she needed of him first. "One thing, though. We still have Sasuke, and he still isn't speaking. With your past with him, maybe you have a chance?"

Kakashi wanted to run straight to Naruto, to his lover, but he also wanted to make Sasuke pay for what he'd done – and now he had the chance. Naruto would never let him if he knew, he didn't want anything to do with the raven, understandably enough. The extra time would feel like days, he knew, but he couldn't pass up this one chance to make the Uchiha talk.

"Where is _he_?" the jounin spat the words out like poison.

"I'll take you there."

"I can't promise I won't kill him. I hope you know that."

"I do. And if that is how it ends, I'm prepared to look the other way, the guards as well. The only reason he is alive is because he doesn't deserve something so easy as death."

**~x~**

Kakashi had stormed into the Uchiha's cell, slammed him against the wall with such force that the boy fell to the floor when he let go, not quite understanding. When the situation caught up with him, all he did was smirk.

"You." The jounin said. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to. Because I _had_ to… You know what it feels like – don't you. You've been there too, I take it?"

Kakashi's fist connected with Sasuke's right cheek so hard the boy flew to the side. Something was off, he wasn't putting up a fight. For every question, the Uchiha had an equally taunting and evasive answer – never giving anything away.

"I will be the death of you." Kakashi's voice was as serious as ever, not even a hint of emotion. "I will kill you. Today."

"You wouldn't. They've kept me alive for a year, and they'll keep me alive longer." The Uchiha would have believed his own words if it weren't for the look in Kakashi's eyes and the signs his hands were making. "I will kill you in the most fitting way I can think of."

The raven felt something for the first time in years. Fear, was what he felt, watching the man perform every sign for a chidori to perfection, not so much as a hairsbreadth off in the movements. When Kakashi raised his hand, both their hearts were racing – but when the ball on concentrated energy pushed through Sasuke's chest, only one was left.

With blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and running from his ears, red eyes, he looked up at the man who brought his death. "All of this… It was… All… Worth it." He whispered the words just loud enough for Kakashi to hear them, knowing they would never leave the man alone.

The jounin walked out of the room with blood spattered across his uniform, running from his hand. Tsunade offered him a room to clean up, new clothes, which he didn't really have time for in his mind, but he knew he couldn't find the blonde looking like he did. It would terrify him.

**~x~**

Tsunade had told him the most likely place to find Naruto was in the apartment, and he ran there as fast as he could after having cleaned up, hoping to find the boy. He knocked on the door, but no one opened, so he found the hidden key Naruto had promised to put out for him in case he came home during the night, let himself in.

"Naruto," he called out, "Naruto, Koi!"

No answer. He was worried, rightfully. He looked around not seeing the boy anywhere, until he got to the closed bedroom door. He pushed It open gently, saw the boy lying there on the bed. _Why aren't you answering me, Naruto?_

"Naruto? Can you hear me?"

The blonde was picking up something in the dark recess of his mind, but he couldn't hear well enough to tell what it was. The Kyuubi, however, could.

"Naruto," It purred. "Wake up, boy. There's someone here for you."

"I don't want to speak to anyone when they're not Kakashi…" he whispered, brokenly.

Kakashi had walked over to the bed, sat down next to the blonde terrified of what he'd discover. He'd turned him gently to his back, but there were no new injuries and the boy was breathing – so why wasn't he reacting. He lay his hands on the blonde's shoulders, and suddenly the blue eyes shot open. In the deep, he'd felt his lovers hands, the warmth and the familiar feel of them, and with the Kyuubi's help he pushed himself back to the surface.

"'Kashi," his voice was weak, groggy from sleeping. "You're really here?"

"I am," the silverette said, laying down next to the blonde, facing him. "I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, I've missed you so much."

Naruto was crying, tears running more quickly from his eyes than Kakashi could dry, and not knowing what else to do he placed his lips gently on the boys, giving him the kiss he'd dreamt of ever since he left the village over a year ago.

The blonde was startled at first, it had been so long, and the memories after the nightmares were so clear in his mind, yet the way the jounin put his arms around him felt so safe and familiar, and he returned the kiss.

Kakashi couldn't help but notice how thin the boy had gotten, but that discussion was for another time, he realized, when the boy embraced him, kissed his neck, his shoulderblades – nothing innocent about the actions of the innocent boy.

Kakashi moaned, he'd missed the boy's lips, his touch, his everything so much. He stopped the blonde, moved so that he was on top of him and began returning the kisses, licking at the boys nipples, and leaving love-bites down his side.

Their clothes quickly disappeared, and they both realized where it was going.

"Are you sure?" He asked the blonde, pulling his hand towards his ass.

"I've missed you too." The blonde's only reply, but a clear one.

He slipped a finger inside the tight orifice, then another as it started to widen. Hi make sure to take his time, it'd been a long time and he didn't want to hurt the boy in any way now that he was finally home again. Naruto was moaning beneath him, his back arched as Kakashi hit the magic spot.

"I'm ready," he moaned loudly into the silverettes ear. "I want you inside me, 'Kashi. I want you so bad."

It didn't take much convincing before Kakshi's cock was in him, Naruto's tightness feeling so good surrounding him. Unlike all the times he'd fucked, this was so much better. This was making love, and he orgasmed screaming his lovers name. The blonde tensed and came at the same time, Kakshi's hand wrapped around him firmly.

As they finished, they collapsed together in eachothers arms, and for the first time in so long Naruto slept the whole night through without nightmares.

**~x~**

**A/N: I'm sorry this is probably out of style, and it's not quite the same as what this story used to be, but here's an ending for you. I owed you all as much.**

**Thank you so much for having read the story, stuck with it till the end. I really do appreciate it very much – you guys have been absolutely great and this story wouldn't have become anything without it's readers.**


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